


Buried Alive

by BadGuysPlease



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Bunker, Bunker Ending, F/M, John and Jacob are still alive, Resist Ending, Spoilers, father dutch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2019-10-03 20:10:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 47,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17290598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadGuysPlease/pseuds/BadGuysPlease
Summary: Deputy Padget Clark is a loving gentle soul. She hates all the killing she is being forced to do and when she ends up not having to kill people she will happily take that out. Unfortunately others will take advantage of that and she finds herself in a very tight spot.





	1. Fall's End Liberated and the End of John Seed

     Deputy Padget ran through the woods to where she had seen John land after he jumped out of his plane. She was surprised to see no peggies running in the same direction as she was, she figured they would all be jumping at a chance to save one of the cult’s heralds. Although now that she thought about it no-one came to Faith’s aid when the rookie deputy had been taking her down. Padget frowned as she kept running through the woods, thinking about how she had been forced to kill the poor lost girl. Faith had given her no choice. The woman had come at the rookie deputy with everything she had and then some. It had been kill or be killed.

 

     Finally, Padget came up on John bleeding out and unconscious on the forest floor. The junior deputy stood over him just looking at the man for a while. She thought about what she had learned about his horrible past and then sighed when she realized she could not just let this man die. In spite of all he had done, she still felt bad for the man who had been dealt a horrible hand throughout most of his life. Not to mention the fact that Padget was not a cold blood killer. There was a difference between shooting someone because you were protecting innocent people or yourself and just shooting someone because you could. John was declawed for right now and it would be cold blooded murder to kill his as he was just then.

 

     With another sigh, Padget bent over and pulled the blood covered man over her shoulders. They were not that far from an abandoned truck that she had stashed a couple of weeks ago. She would use that to take him to Dutch’s bunker. He could get the medical attention he needed there, and he could be locked down tight there too. It would be the perfect place to keep him until this whole mess was over and she had dealt with the rest of his family. Hopefully, she could get him some physiological help after she had faced the other herald and Joseph himself.

 

     The deputy moved as quickly and quietly as she could to the truck, trying not to grunt under the man’s weight. For such a slight looking man, he was pretty heavy. Once she got to the truck she laid John in the bed of the back of the truck and covered him with the tarp she had used to hide the truck. The junior deputy then hoped into the driver’s seat of the truck, ran her hand through her black hair that was falling out of its pony tail, and went to start the truck. Padget then realized that she did not have the keys on her right now. She let out a string of curse words before reaching under the dash of the car to hot wire the thing into moving. After a few minutes of cursing and fighting with the truck she finally got the old hunk of metal started.

 

     Leaving the headlights off so as not to attract attention to herself, the deputy sped off towards Dutch’s island. The drive went by surprisingly quickly. She astonishingly ran across no peggies, although she figured that was due to the peggies running around trying to deal with the fall out of the deputy “killing” the herald. Soon she was pulling the truck up at the door to Dutch’s bunker. Padget leaned her head back against the back of the seat of the truck for a few minutes, questioning her decision again for a few second. With a sigh she climbed out of the truck and started banging on the door to get Dutch to open up.

 

     After a few beats the door opened, and Dutch was standing their looking with surprise at the Junior deputy. “What’s up kid? I thought you were in Holland Valley taking on John.” Padget grunted in response. Without saying anything she went to the back of the truck, pulled off the tarp and hoisted John over her shoulders. Dutch stood there for a moment, eyes wide, before finally moving down into the bunker and leading the way to the medical room of his bunker.

 

     That was one thing Padget loved about Dutch. He would very rarely ask questions. She also knew that she could rely on the man no matter what. She and Dutch traveled to the medical ward in silence except for Padget’s huffing breaths and occasional grunts. Once they got to medical ward Dutch simply pointed at the cot farthest from the door and then turned to get what he needed to see to John’s wounds. Padget moved over and lowered John on to the cot. Once the man was laying down Paget quickly moved over to the cabinet over by the door grabbed some zip ties and attached both of John’s arms to the bed frame.

 

     Once she was sure he was secure Padget pulled the key off from around his neck and then sat down on the ground against the wall out of the way so Dutch could patch up John. Dutch was silent as he checked John over and patched up the biggest problems spots that would probably kill the man if left untreated. Once John had been patched up and Dutch had cleaned up from seeing to the man, the rookie deputy and old prepper just looked at each other for a while.

 

     Finally, no longer able to take Dutch’s stare Padget threw her hands up in the air and then pushed herself up to standing so she could start pacing while she explained what was going on. “I just couldn’t leave him there to die, I also couldn’t just kill him. He was passed out Dutch. That would have been murder in cold blood.”

 

     She turned to Dutch and stalked towards him begging to get him to understand. “I am a deputy, I took a vow. I can’t break that vow to just kill a man because I don’t like him.”

 

     She stood in front of Dutch staring at his chest lost in thought as she continued “There is a difference between killing a man in cold blood and killing someone to protect yourself or others. He was declawed at the moment and having him here means no one will be threatened by him anymore.”

 

     She finally got the courage to look up into Dutch’s eyes. She was so afraid that she would see judgement, but instead she saw understanding. Padget was surprised when Dutch actually reached out and took her into his arms in a fatherly embrace. Padget stood stiff for a moment before tightly embracing Dutch back. It had been so long since someone had just held her, Padget found herself at the edge of a breakdown.

 

     After a few moments Dutch gently pushed Padget back so he could look her in the face again. “Go get your friend Hudson kid. After that come back here and take a well-deserved rest before you try to take on the rest of the cult mostly single handed.”

 

     Padget smiled softly at Dutch for a moment, before she nodded and pulled herself together. Her job was not done yet. She re-armed herself with everything she could, from ammunition for her favorite 50.cal sniper rifle to flaming arrows and a bow. Once she had everything she could carry and still move swiftly and mostly silently she hurried out of Dutch bunker and back into her truck.

 

     After another quick drive with no peggie run ins she found herself at John’s Gate. She took a deep breath, shoved his key into the lock, and then descended into the fray. She fought her way through wave after wave of peggies until she finally came to Hudson. Much to Padget’s frustration she had to stop Hudson from stabbing her and then talk the woman out of the deep end when she wanted to blow the whole bunker sky high. The rookie deputy reminded the older woman that there were women and children in the bunker who had never raised a hand or a gun to anyone. Hudson finally agreed to settle on simply freeing the other prisoners and then getting the hell out of doge.

 

     The deputies quickly got the other’s free and Padget led everyone out to her truck and speed back to Fall’s End. There was a celebration throughout the whole region of Holland Valley. People running and shouting and dancing by the side of the road. It was always amazing to see the weight come off the shoulders of a region when they had been freed from the cults control. The only thing that bothered Padget is the fact that the people of Hope County tended to stop being careful once a herald was defeated. Padget would remind the people constantly that the cult was still out there and while the cult’s influence had been lessened, they were still out there ready to continue to take people and supplies. The cult would continue to be a problem until Joseph had been dealt with and the people should be aware of that.

 

     Once Padget got to Fall’s End with Hudson and the others that had been rescued from John’s gate, the rookie deputy was surrounded by people hugging her and crying in relief that the fight was over with John. Mary May thrust a beer into her hands, while Jerome clapped Padget on the shoulder before taking the civilians that had come from John’s bunker to the church. They would be checked over by the local doctor who had set up shop at the church to take care of those hurt from today. She had already seen to Nick and Jerome from where their “sins” had been ripped off their chest. She had also helped a few resistance members who had taken bullets to different parts of their bodies in the massive fight that had broken out to take back the town of Fall’s End.

 

     Hudson refused to go to the church to get checked out, insisting that she was fine, even though Padget could see that the woman was at the end of her rope. The rookie deputy didn’t want to push the issue and instead handed the beer that Mary May had given her to Hudson. When some of Hudson’s old friends approached the more experience deputy Padget felt like she could head out. Padget stopped by the bar on her way out to let Mary May know that she was headed out.

 

     “Mary May I am headed to Dutch’s for a rest before getting back into the fray.” Mary May frowned at the rookie deputy and started shaking her head before Padget had even finished speaking.

 

     “Deputy just take a room upstairs. No need for you to take a trip all the way to Dutch’s,” the bar owner leaned over the bar as she spoke, but Padget gently and kindly refused.

 

     “Dutch is expecting me Mary May, plus I feel the…most secure in Dutch’s bunker.” Dutch’s bunker was the only one in the entire county that had not been compromised by the cult, so it made sense that Padget felt the safest there. Mary May gave in with a look of understanding after Padget had explained that to the woman and sent the rookie deputy off with a case of Dutch’s favorite beer.

 

     The trip back to Dutch’s island went by quickly in the truck with the cult’s music playing softly in the background. The sun was starting to come up as she pulled into his island. Once she was a little way onto the island the junior deputy pulled over, shut off the truck and got to work hiding it under the tarp again. The cult was known for “reaping” anything they saw, and she really didn’t want them to get their hands on the truck.

 

     Once Padget felt that the truck was well hidden she continued the rest of the way to Dutch’s bunker on foot with only her rifle, her radio, and the case of Dutch's beer. Padget enjoyed the sounds of nature as she walked to Dutch’s bunker. Though the further along in her walk the more she started to notice the ache and pains radiating all over her body. She was a couple of feet from the bunker when she felt a sharp stabbing pain at her left rib cage that she could no longer ignore. Padget tried to pick up her pace a little and pressed down on the spot that was hurting so badly. The rookie deputy knew she was in trouble when the spot felt wet and she glanced down and noticed that she was bleeding quiet a lot. She must have been grazed by a bullet and not noticed until all the adrenaline wore off. Worried she might not make it the rest of the way to the bunker, Padget picked up her radio and called in to Dutch.

 

     “Hey I am a few feet away from the bunker and could use some help getting inside; I have a pretty nasty wound.” A few minutes after Padget had finished her sentence the bunker door was open, and Dutch was by her side, taking the case of beer from her and holding it under one arm while supporting the junior deputy the rest of the way to the bunker and then into the med ward with his other arm. The first thing Padget noticed when she entered the medical room was that John was awake and was glaring daggers at her and Dutch. John however was surprisingly quiet, and she noticed a new bruise forming on the Baptist’s forehead. Padget chuckled softly and cut her eyes over to Dutch.

 

    “What? He wouldn’t shut up and let me get any sleep.” Dutch defended himself as he laid Padget out on the bed. Padget just sighed and shook her head at the older, temperamental man.

 

     Once Padget was settled on the bed Dutch quickly went to work cutting her clothes off so her could get to her wounds. Padget normally would have complained, but she felt that there was no saving the clothes she was wearing. They were ripped from where John had ripped open her shirt to write Wrath on her chest, covered in her blood, mud, and the blood and in some cases brain fluid of the peggies she had been forced to kill today. The only sound for a bit in the bunker was the sound of Padget’s labored breathing, the static from the radio in the other room that Dutch never turned off, the hum of the generator and the sound of ripping cloth. The relative silence was soon interrupted by the sound of a scoff coming from John. Padget turned her head in his direction with a question on her face.

 

     “Never took you to be one for Lust deputy.” John answered her unasked question with disdain dripping from his mouth. It took Padget a minute to figure out what the man meant, but Dutch instantly knew and she figured that if she was not so injured the older man would have attacked John where he was laying.

 

     “Don’t make me sick, you sick fuck. There is nothing between us, except me patching up the damage that your people cause to her.” Dutch spat at John as he readied a needle to stitch up the wound in Padget’s side. Padget by then had figured out what John meant was had flushed red in embarrassment and turned away from the man lying on one of the other cots that filled the room. John was silent after Dutch’s words and the only sound for a while after that was Padget’s pained grunts as Dutch stitched her up.

 

     As soon as Dutch has seen to her wounds Padget glanced back over at John to find him staring at her with a thoughtful look on his face. Padget found herself growing uncomfortable under his stare, as she always did and looked away again to Dutch who was entering the med ward again, this time with one of his loose button up plaid shirts. The prepper helped the rookie sit up and slide her arm into the shirt. Once the shirt was on and protecting her modest as much as possible while still being open, Dutch quickly cut off her bra, helped her lay back down, and buttoned up the shirt. Dutch’s shirt hung on her 5’ 9” body, so she had no problem just hanging out in just his shirt having done it a couple of other times when she had come back to the bunker to rest and get her wounds treated. Dutch did pull a blanket over her legs to keep her warm since it was always relatively cool in the bunker.

 

     “I would move you to your room kid, but I don’t want to aggravate your wounds. Some of them are pretty bad.” Dutch informed her as he picked up the used supplies from patching her up. Padget had come to stay with Dutch pretty much whenever she need to rest. She had claimed the room with the bunk beds as her own after a few weeks. She had even moved all her personal possessions to the room once she had been able to clean out her house without peggies attacking her every second.

 

     “You should have at least let the doc at Fall’s End see to you before you tried to get back here.” Dutch reprimanded the junior deputy before leaving the room again. Padget hummed at the older man’s back as he left. She silently waited for him to come back while ignoring her reluctant roommate. A few minutes later Dutch was back in the room with a bottle of water, her grandmother’s quilt, and her favorite super soft pillow. Dutch swapped out her pillows, draped the quilt over her whole body and the opened the water bottle and handed it to the deputy.

 

     “There were to many other people who needed her help Dutch. Besides I didn’t even know I was hurt so badly until I was on the way here. I had to much adrenaline.”  The deputy explained to the man in-between sips of water. Dutch simply grunted at Padget. He watched her finish the whole bottle before he pulled up a chair, grabbed a bottle of beer from the case Mary May had sent him and he had set by the door, and settled down beside her.

 

     “Get some rest kid. You have done well these last couple of months. I’ll make sure nothing, and no one disturbs you.” Padget smiled at the prepper before she allowed her eyes to slide shut and she drifted off into the land of oblivion; knowing for now she was safe and sound and so were a lot of other innocent people.


	2. Healing Up and Finishing Things in the Henbane and Holland Valley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The deputy is still healing from the final showdown with John, but the calls for help won't let up and they pull at her soul. John is learning what he can about the woman who he titled as Wrath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a filler chapter. I am establishing Padget's character a bit more and developing her relationship with Dutch father as well. We will see the story line progress more in the next chapter. Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos! The really do help fuel my muse I promise.

     Padget woke up slowly, frowning at the pain that was embracing her whole body. She felt like she had been run over by a train and eaten by a bear right after. The rookie deputy let out a quiet groan and shifted in the narrow cot in which she was laying. She instantly regretted that as more pain slammed into her. Padget whimpered and grabbed the covers of the cot she was laying on in a tight fist. The low rumble of Dutch’s voice just reached Padget through the waves of pain. It took the rookie deputy a moment to focus on the words Dutch was saying, but when she did it brought a smile to her face even through the pain.

 

     “You ass hat I told you not to wake her. You have no idea what she goes through and if you want to keep your pretty face you will try to find an ounce of humanity.” Padget let out a weak chuckle that ended up turning into a whimper at Dutch’s words. She then felt Dutch’s weathered hands smoothing back the hair at her temple. The rookie deputy cracked her eyes open just enough to see Dutch and smiled at the older man.

 

     “Why don’t we just let you bitch at the rest of the cult Dutch? I’m sure they will give in to the Resistance in no time.” Padget croaked out at Dutch. The prepper shook his head at her and helped her to slowly sit up and recline against the pillows.

 

     “Christ kid, if your wit hasn’t stopped them I doubt my griping will.” Was Dutch’s response before he placed a bottle of water up to Padget’s mouth. Padget simply chuckled and took a couple of swallows of water. She loved bantering with the older man. It helped her relax and he always took such good care of her after she had a final showdown with one of the cult heralds.

      The Resistance in the Henbane had been to damaged to worry about the rookie deputy after the showdown with Faith. Not to mention Padget did not want place more burden on Tracy and Whitehorse after the loss of Virgil, Burke, and all the other Resistance member who had been taken out during the siege of the prison. Once Whitehorse had been dropped at the jail the rookie deputy had immediately driven to Dutch’s bunker and collapsed at the bottom of his stairs. The man had then nursed Padget back to health for a couple of weeks before hearing all the calls of people who needed help coming over the radio became too much. Padget then got her pack together and set off to liberate Holland Valley. The few times she had gotten injured very badly during the fight against John she had come back to Dutch’s bunker to rest for a spell before continuing.

 

     For Dutch’s part, he felt bad placing so much on such a young person and such a green deputy. Padget had informed him that she had never discharged her weapon at a person before this fight. Now she had lost track of the people she had killed. Dutch felt the weight of that on his shoulders every day. Not to mention such a kind-hearted woman was being forced into the fray were it was either kill or be killed and was getting almost little to no help from the citizens of Hope County.

 

      Padget bent over backwards for the people of the county and the most she got was a thank you and maybe some free booze that she wouldn’t even touch. Dutch had offered to come out and fight the fight by her side, but Padget had refused. She told him that his energy was better spent keeping track of what everyone in the Resistance needed and keeping track of what moves the cult was making. Dutch was at least thankful that she had that cat of hers with her ninety percent of the time she was sticking the fight to the cult. She also had a small group of people who would fight the fight with her when she asked. He knew she hated putting their lives at risk though.

 

Both of the Resistance fighters were torn from their thoughts by John’s voice. “She didn’t ever talk to us actually.” Dutch and Padget looked over at the Baptist laying on one of the other narrow cots that filled the medical room. Padget frowned at the man. She had not talked to the Heralds for a reason. She didn’t want to encourage their behavior and somewhere deep inside herself she knew that if she responded to them that is exactly what would happen. Dutch was rather surprised at this news. Padget was such a talkative and friendly woman, it was hard to believe that she was not bantering with the Seeds. Especially, since the family was constantly taunting the kid.

 

     Padget finally shrugged and both John and Dutch. “Not much reason to respond John. We are not friends and nothing I said would have changed your actions.”

 

     Before John could respond, the radio in the other room went off. “Dutch this is Mary May from Fall’s End. You there? Over.” Padget groaned and sunk father into the pillows.

 

     Dutch frowned and pointed a stern finger at Padget as he left to go answer the radio. “You stay in that bed. You are not anywhere near strong enough to go running back into the fight.”

 

     Padget smiled softly at Dutch, knowing he was saying that for her own benefit. No matter how much she hurt or how tired she was it was very hard for the rookie deputy to not answer a call for help. She had grown attached to all the members of the Resistance. You could see that in her tireless running back and forth doing whatever the people asked of her. Yet, as much as Padget loved the people of Hope County she swore they could do nothing by themselves. The needed help with everything. From finding lost items to taking back all the outposts to getting food. Padget had not rested well since this whole affair began. Even when she was safe she never got more than a few hours of sleep before she was being woken up by a cry of help for something or other.

 

       She knew there were still some bliss fields in the Henbane that needed to be burned along with a few places that need to be cleared of cultists. Thinking on what was left to do in Holland Valley, she knew there were a couple outposts that needed to be liberated and a few road blocks that needed to be taken out. Who knew what else the residence would need her to do. She frowned when she remembered that she had wanted to go check on Kim and Nick today. She was wondering how they were doing with what had happened at the church. It still ripped Padget to shreds to think about Nick having his skin cut off.  

 

      Her hand drifted up to the spot where her wrath tattoo sat underneath Dutch’s shirt. She was glad that she had covered the mark up with a bandage before she had gotten patched up by Dutch. The older man was rather protective of her and if he had seen what John had done, she was not sure she could have stopped him from killing the other man.

 

      “You know if you don’t atone your sin will destroy you.” John casually commented to Padget when he noticed her stroking the place where her tattoo sat. Padget yawned and ignored the Baptist. She closed her eyes as her exhaustion from the past few months caught back up to her. The rookie let the sound of Dutch’s deep, rough voice lull her back to sleep; hoping this time she might actually be able to get some restful sleep that would heal her.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     The deputy ended up staying a couple of weeks in Dutch’s bunker while she recuperated from the final fight to liberate Holland Valley. The whole first week was spent in the med ward with John. After a week Dutch agreed to let her get up and start moving around the bunker again. The Resistance was sending in daily calls asking for help with different things and it was driving Padget crazy to just lay in bed when people needed her help.

 

       When Dutch finally agreed to let her move around the bunker again, she quickly realized that she was not up to helping people yet. She could barely move around the bunker and it was pretty painful. Still she was persistent and keeping moving around doing the odd jobs around the bunker. With Dutch’s help she moved a spare double bed that he had into one of his store rooms. They also cleared out the store room and made it into a lovely and cozy bedroom. Together the two Resistance leaders then cleaned out the room that Padget had previously been using as a bed room of any possible weapons. The room ended up being very Spartan, but it was secure. Although just to be safe Dutch had started locking his armory door again. Once everything was finished, together the two moved John into his new room. Dutch undid the man’s hands from the bed in the med ward and then handcuffed John’s hands behind his back. While this was being done Padget stood nearby with a pistol aimed at his head. John was escorted to his new room where one hand was zip tied to the bed.

 

     John was not idle during his time in the bunker. He used the few weeks the deputy stayed in the bunker to observe the rookie deputy. He was surprised to find she was not as wrathful as he once thought. She checked on him several times a day and always made sure he had food and water. He had also found out that she had thought of the women and children in his bunker and spared them from her wrath. John had expected to be taunted by the deputy. For her to rub in her victory over him. Yet, the girl never said a word against him.

 

      He also was drawn to the relationship she had formed with the old prepper. He could tell they were very fond of each other and it made him jealous. No one had ever looked at him the way they looked at each other. He longed to have the deputy look at him the same way. Well, he cocked his head to the side. May be not the exactly same way. He could definitely tell that it was more of a father daughter relationship between the two rather than anything romantic. John had always felt drawn to the deputy since he first saw her in the church when she came to arrest his brother. She was very pretty to look at and he could tell she had a very strong spirit. It was not until his brother told him that he had to love her that he started falling hard for the darling of the Resistance of Hope County.

 

     John was drawn out of his thoughts by the sounds of slightly muffled arguing coming from one of the other rooms of the bunker. The deputy’s voice starting to rise and was a little higher than usual. “I have to go Dutch. The cult is still in control of the main farm and the Resistance is running low on food!”

 

     “You are still to injured! We just took out your stitches yesterday. You will do Hope County no good if you go and get yourself killed. You forget you still have to face Jacob and Joseph to free us all.” John was not very shocked at the old prepper’s words. Despite the fact that the old man had put so much on the deputy himself, he was very protective of the girl.

 

      The other members of the Resistance were less protective and seemed to need the deputy to do everything for them. The people of Fall’s End had to know that she had been hurt from the final fight against him and the people of his bunker, yet constant calls to Dutch asking for her help came through the radio every day. John could tell when they had both been in med room how much every call tore at the deputy’s soul. She would get such a pained look in her eye when she would hear someone asking for help. Most of the calls had not been urgent however. John had a feeling that one of the families reaching out after their loved one had been taken by the cult this morning in Holland Valley was what was driving her to go back into the fray. Even if she would not admit it to the old prepper.

 

      John was not the only one who could see through the deputy’s ruse. Dutch was a smart man and called the rookie on her lie. “I know you want to go save that boy we heard about kid, but your just not ready. Plus, if you had taken out the bunk this might not still be happening.”

 

      John was unsurprised at the man’s words. There was no love lost between the project and the members of the Resistance, but the deputy’s defense of the helpless people in his bunker filled John with warmth. “There were innocent people in that bunker Dutch. Children were in that bunker. It is bad enough that I have taken so many lives for the Resistance, but I refuse to completely cast aside my morals and slaughter innocents that have no hope of protecting themselves.”

 

      There was silence in the bunker for a bit, before Dutch spoke up again. “I know you hate the killing kid, but its…”

 

       “Kill or be killed. I know Dutch,” came the weary response from the savior of Hope County.

 

      There was a bit of silence before the deputy spoke up again. “That doesn’t change the fact that it tears at me. Plus, you know as much as I do that the Cult does have a point. Something is coming. I know you have heard the news from outside here on the radio. I dread the thought that Joseph might be right…”

 

      Dutch’s sharp retort sliced through the bunker. “Right or wrong that does not excuse his methods.”

 

      “Never said it did Dutch. But if that bunker is there then Nick, Kim, Baby Rye, Pastor Jerome, Mary May…all the others they will have a safe place to go.” The deputy shot back at Dutch, though she was much more gently about the whole thing.

 

      Dutch scoffed at the rookie deputy. “Hah! Like those cult fucks would ever let the citizens in the bunker. Remember their song kid? You either join or they leave you to die when the end comes.”

 

       The Deputy chucked at Dutch. “Sure, if they had a choice in the matter. I gave Jerome the key to John’s bunker. They will be able to get in regardless of how the cult feels about them. Plus, I am pretty sure that Jerome will be able to calm everyone down if the end really does come.”

 

     The was a stretch of silence again before Dutch chuckled at the Deputy. “I should have known you would do something like that. You think of everything kid.”

 

      “Yeah well I try at least.” Came Padget’s response though it was very hard for John to hear her. After another few seconds she continued. “Look, I still have to face Jacob and I know that is going to be a beat down. I would rather warm up by completely liberating the Henbane and taming what is left of the cult in Holland Valley.”

 

      Dutch grunted at the deputy’s words before reluctantly agreeing. “Fine kid, that is a good a plan as any. Just promise me you will actually sleep some while you’re working kay?”

 

      Padget laughed softly, “Okay old man. I’ll try. It’s hard though… This is the only place where I really feel safe… Everywhere else except the jail is taken to easily by the cult.”

 

     Dutch hummed in agreement. “Well you are always welcome back here kid.”

 

     There was silence again for a bit then Padget responded, “Thanks Dutch. I will be back soon I am sure. Remember to feed John.”

 

      The Baptist frowned at the Deputy’s words. She made him feel like a dog with those words. He listened as he heard footsteps moving through the bunker then it was quiet again except for the darn radio. After a bit of laying on his bed listening to Dutch make calls to the Resistance to let them know that the deputy was back out there. Once the calls stopped, John heard footsteps coming towards his room. The Baptist sat up and faced the door, ready for whatever the old man had to say to him. Once Dutch appeared in the doorway the two men just stared at each other for a while.

 

      John, never being a patient person, was the first one to break the silence. “Yes?” He drawled out to the old prepper.

 

     Dutch just shook his head at the younger man tied to the bed. “Nothing Seed. Just behave with the Deputy gone. She is not the only one who knows how to shoot a gun with deadly accuracy. I am going to make us some lunch.” Was all Dutch said before he left the room. John was not looking forward to the deputy being gone. He was also worried a little for his older brother. He knew Jacob could handle himself just fine usually, but the deputy was a force to be reckoned with, especially when she felt her friends were being threatened.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

      The deputy stuck to her word to Dutch. She spent another three weeks working around the Henbane and Holland valley. She burned down the rest of the bliss fields. Having a small part with her friends in the 8-Bit Pizza Bar when the last of the horrid drug was gone from the earth. Padget really hated the stupid drug. She also showed the remaining cult members in the Holland Valley, that while she might have shown mercy by not blowing up their bunker, that did not mean that she was weak. People had finally stopped being taken and the cult was living side by side with the Resistance in Holland Valley for now. She had been asked by a couple of people in the valley and the Henbane to find things for them and she was working on that right now, though she had a feeling that she was going to have to go searching in the mountains to finish the collections. The favorite thing Padget had gotten to do was drive Kim to the hospital and hold baby Rye. Padget had vowed that she would protect that baby girl with all she had.

 

      The rookie was now healed enough that she was ready to start in the mountains. She was currently standing at the boarder to the Whitetail Mountains from the Henbane, looking up at the large, looming crags. With a sigh she hoisted her pack higher on her back looked over at Sharky and Peaches who were watching her and waiting for her to give them the go ahead.

 

      “Let's get the last region free shall we.” Padget said and was answered with a grin from Sharky. Together the two friends crossed the border and set off to start liberating the last of Hope County.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check me out on tumblr! @littlecuddler I post a bunch of Far Cry stuff and post about my original characters on there.


	3. Figuring Jacob Seed Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padget is trying to take Jacob out, but his trials are close to breaking her. On the bright side she had figured out Jacob's purpose for her, even though she is determined to beat him at his own game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kudos and comments. Again they really help keep me inspired, plus it is wonderful to know other's are enjoying this story. I am really proud of this story and love seeing it get the love it deserves. 
> 
> Just a note, I added two rooms to Dutch's bunker. I added an extra store room that Padget has turned into her bed room. It is at the end of the hall that has the room with the fish tank and the room with map and the pictures of all the Seed's in it, then I also added a BATHROOM?!? Did anyone else notice there is no bathroom in Dutch's bunker? The bathroom is at the end of the hall that has Dutch's room where your first wake up, the medical room, the room with all the bunk beds, and the armory. So basically the bunker is the same, same layout and rooms, I just added two room and I put the new rooms in a place where they would not effect the size of the other rooms that already exist in the bunker.

     Padget woke up on the ground surrounded by decaying bodies and covered in blood. This was her second time being caught by Jacob and the several of days in his cage and then being forced through his trials had made Padget drop a good bit of her weight and covered her in bruises, cuts, dirt, and blood. Padget had fought against doing the trial for a while which lead to her getting beaten. Eventually she gave in and went through the man’s brutal trial. She killed the people in the trial that she could not avoid, but she tried to avoid who she could. The rookie deputy sat up with a groan and cradled her shooting wrist to her chest. At some point during the trail she had been forced to slide across the ground to get to one of the doors and had twisted her wrist. The rookie sighed and pushed herself up to standing with her good wrist. The only good thing that came from the fight was the fact that she now knew where Jacob was located and who he was trying to get her to go after. With this information in mind she would go back to Dutch, make sure she was not to brainwashed from the oldest Seed brother, rest and heal from this latest battle, and then plan how she was going to infiltrate the Veteran’s Center.

 

     Padget was not sure where she was in the Whitetail Mountains and would just have to hike east until she came to the coast of the lake or until she ran into a resistance member who could help her. The rookie deputy looked around just to make sure her pack was not somewhere nearby. Her search yielded nothing much to her frustration. She was weaponless, radio less, and pack less. She had no way of defending herself should she run into peggies and no way of reaching anyone to ask for help. This was going to mean running like crazy and being as stealthy as possible.

 

      Padget creeped along east for a couple of meters before she found a path. She followed the path from the bushes for about three hundred meters from where she had woken up until she found what looked like an old abandoned camping site. The camp site had a backpack and a sturdy stick that could be used as a weapon. The rookie deputy rooted through the backpack and found some money, bliss oil, fasteners. dynamite, and liquor. She kept everything in the pack and threw it over her shoulders. She could hear a small river running nearby which she could use as cover for her footsteps. With that in mind Padget darted across the path and put herself closer to the small river. Then she booked it down the hill alongside the river. As she was moving down the hill she spied a tent with two cult members and captive civilian. The deputy felt pain tear across her soul and the thought that she could not save the civilian. However, Padget knew logically that if she was try to save the captive it would only end badly. The rookie whispered a quiet sorry in the captive’s direction and skirted around the tented area. After running a short way after that, Padget spotted a bridge that led to the other side of the river and the roof of a cabin not that far away.

 

      The rookie deputy watched the surroundings for a while, and not seeing any threats, she darted across the bridge and into the bushes along the other side of the river. Once she was in the safety of the bushes, Padget took a moment to let her racing heart calm before moving towards the cabin. The deputy expected to see peggies at the cabin, as most of the residence’s she had been to before a region was liberated had peggies with a captive outside them. However, Padget’s luck seemed to be continuing as there was no sign of peggies anywhere near this cabin. Generally, when there were no peggies to be found outside a house it was because the people of the house were dead and gone. So Padget braced herself to find a bloody scene as was pleasantly surprised when she found no blood, no bodies, and a mostly intact home.

 

      A bit of the weight on her shoulders was lifted when she found a shot gun and some explosives. She also found a few collectables and some more money that she threw into the backpack. Padget moved into the kitchen and found the water was still running. She ducked her head under the faucet and gulped down several mouthfuls of the cool, clean water. Rooting around some she also found some food of toast and fruit that smelled safe and was not growing anything. With a moan she dug into the apple and toast. Even though that was very little food it sat very heavily in her stomach and made her feel kind of nauseous. Despite that the rookie deputy wanted more food. There were some eggs and bacon in the fridge that she could have cooked if she had felt that she was safe and wasn’t completely afraid of throwing everything she had in her stomach back up. With both those thoughts in mind, especially how easy a target she was with no backup and none of her usual weapons Padget felt very vulnerable and was eager to leave the region. The rookie deputy went back to searching the cabin and she found a lovely radio and paper working including a letter that explained who the cabin once belonged to and what had happened to the people of the cabin. This was the Osprey cabin and they had packed up to leave the county. She really hoped that the people had managed to get out of the county before everything had happened.

 

     Radio in hand Padget grabbed a glass of water and then sank down on the plaid couch. She tried to figure out who she could call the help her get out of the region and decided that Adelaide would be the best option. Even though the armed helicopter convoys were out, the Chosen had not been called yet, so they should be able to get out of the region using the skies.

 

     “The Deputy to Addie, do you copy Addie?” Paget called into the radio. She was reluctant to use her own name in the radio call as you never knew who could be listening in and so far the rookie deputy had managed to keep her name from the cult. The deputy relaxed into the couch, enjoying having something soft against her back after all those days of nothing but the cold hard ground. After a short stretch of silence, Addie’s voice washed over the rookie deputy, along with several other peoples’ voices. Adelaide must be at the Eight-Bit Pizza Bar.

 

     “Sweetie! Where have you been?” Before the deputy could answer the question another one was being fired at her from Sharky.

 

     “Po-po! Are you a ‘right? Been missin you! Need my firin’ skillz? Don’t want you off having a fun time killing peggies without me!” Padget laughed softly at the sound of Sharky’s eager voice. She went to respond again, but then Nick’s voice interrupted.

 

      “Deputy I have missed you friend! So, has Kim and your God daughter! You need to get back here to spend some quality time with the little tike!” Padget smiled fondly as she thought about the little girl that she would do anything for no matter what. Before she could tell Nick she would be by as soon as she could Adelaide’s muffled voice pushing all the boys back flowed over the air waves and Hurk’s loud grumbling of not being able to talk to the deputy could be heard in the distance too.

 

      “The girl called for me you massive knuckle heads so give me the damn radio.”

 

     “Mama come on! I wanna talk to Dep too! You never give me anything!” Was Hurk’s call out before a thunk was heard and he could only barley be heard complaining about heavy handed parents and Addie telling her son to grow a pair.   If Padget could guess, Adelaide had wacked her son over the head and taken back control of the radio.

 

      “What do you need honey?” Adelaide’s gentle voice asked of Padget after a beat.

 

      “Can you bring me a getaway Addie? I am in the Osprey cabin in the Whitetail Mountains.” Padget asked the older woman as she reclined farther into the couch fighting back a yawn.

 

      Adelaide’s response was instant. “Sure thing honey. I know where that cabin is located. Do I need to be prepared for a big fight?”

 

     Padget shook her head and fought down another yawn before she responded. “I mean you should always be prepared Adelaide, but the area in mostly peggie free, there was a hostage a couple of meters up river with two peggies, but those are the only peggies I have seen in the region.”

 

      In true Addie fashion the other woman ignored the deputy’s words about always being prepared and simply said, “Sure thing sugar, be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

     Padget groaned in frustration at Addie’s words. Ever since the deputy had told the crew about Joseph’s words and thoughts on her being the lamb of God, they would make sheep and lamb references all the time. The rookie deputy told everyone goodbye and she would make sure to come see them soon before switching to Dutch’s frequency.

 

     “Hey old man you there?” She tried to sound as light hearted as possible so that maybe Dutch would not rip her a new one. The rookie should have known that never would have worked.

 

     “Christ Kid! I thought we had lost you to the cult. Do you have any idea how long it has been since we heard from you last?”

 

     Padget let out a weary sigh and laid her head back against the round green pillow that had been laying on the sofa. “I’m not quite sure but I think it has been about twelve to fourteen days. I’m s-”

 

     Dutch interrupted her apology. “Hah try twenty-four days kid. Where the hell have you been?”

 

     Padget was struck dumfounded for a moment. She had been trying to keep up with the days she had been kept captive in her cage at the Veteran’s Center, but it had been hard when they kept knocking her out or not feeding her to the point she couldn’t think strait or tell much of anything. She thought back to the amount of times they had given her food and water. She got water every five to seven days depending on how much she behaved, which for her generally meant getting water every seven days for the stubborn deputy. Food was a different story. Food only every nine to twelve days. She had been fed only once, which is why the deputy thought that it had been such a shorter time frame. Obviously it had been much longer, and the deputy felt proud of herself for not bending to the cults will as fast as thought she had.

 

     Dutch’s voice brought Padget back to the present. “Kid? Kid, answer me! Kid?!”

 

     Padget pressed down on the talk button with shaky hands, “Sorry Dutch I got lost in thought. I’m sorry I have been gone so long. I will explain everything soon. I am in the Whitetails and Addie is coming to get me. She is going to bring me to you.”

 

      Dutch let out a sigh and was silent for a bit before he responded. “Alright kid I will have the med ward ready for you.”

 

     Padget smiled at Dutch’s words. She didn’t even have to tell him that she was injured, he just knew. Right about then she heard the sound of helicopter blades heading towards the cabin. The deputy lowered herself to the floor and commando crawled to one of the windows in the front room. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was tulip. The junior deputy threw the backpack back onto her back then hurried outside and up a later at the back of the cabin onto the roof.  Padget waved frantically at Addie until she brought the chopper to a hover above where the deputy was standing and dropped a rope. The rookie quickly climbed up the rope and into the pink camo chopper.

 

     “Where to Hun?” Addie yelled at the deputy over the sounds of the chopper blades whirling.

 

     “Dutch’s Island Addie!” The rookie yelled back as she got on full alert with the shot gun in her hand ready to defend herself from any peggies that may come along.

 

     “Sure thing sweetness.” Was the only other thing said between the two women as they head for Dutch’s Island. It didn’t take long for them to get to the Island and there was luckily a bare patch of land for Addie to set down the chopper that was only about forty meters from Dutch’s bunker.

 

     The rookie deputy sent Adelaide away with the promise to call her and the rest of the squad soon. As soon as tulip was out of sight the rookie deputy headed towards Dutch’s bunker. Once she got to the bunker and had headed down the steps Padget was enveloped in a tight hug from Dutch. She was surprised, but she very much welcomed the tender touch and sank into the man’s embrace.

 

     “Don’t you ever do that to me again kid.” Was all that he said before pulling away to look her up and down. “Christ you need a shower and some food.”

 

      Padget laughed at the old prepper. “I would definitely not say no to either of those things.”

 

      Dutch grunted at the rookie and led her farther into the bunker. “I will fix you something to eat while you get a shower. Then we will look at patching you up and you can explain what I have missed.”

 

      Padget grimaced at the thought of that conversation, but she knew it was going to have to happen at some point. Not just because Dutch deserved to know what was going on, but also because she needed his help to figure out exactly how to handle the military man in the south. Dutch left the deputy on her own to head to the bathroom as he went into the room with the kitchen. The bathroom was at the end of the hall that held the infirmary, Dutch’s bedroom, the armory, and her old bedroom, also known as the room in which John was being kept. She glanced in her old room and smiled softly at John. She was pleased to see the cult herald was clean and did not have any visible bruises or wounds. He also did not look any thinner, so Dutch must have been looking after the man. Padget nodded her head at John then ducked back out of the room and went into the bathroom. She completely missed John’s surprised look at how gaunt the deputy had become. If Padget had stayed in the room with the Baptist longer and had looked in his eyes she would have seen concern tenting his gaze.

 

     Padget was much more concerned with getting clean as she had not had a shower or a bath in almost a month. She turned on the shower as hot as she could get it and then started to pull off her gross clothes. She pulled her tank top off first. The dark grey tank top was fused to her skin from the blood and mud that covered it. The thing was so torn and stained that Padget did not think there was any way to save the thing. The image of a brown bull and the words Testicle Festival were almost completely worn from the thing. With a sigh she threw the shirt into the trash can sitting by the toilet along with her sports bra. Padget then started trying to pull off her dirty jeans. She no longer had her thigh holsters, those having been pulled off of her when she had been taken, and the once light wash jeans were mostly all black. After a bit of grunting a struggling with the jeans, Padget gave up and just stepped into the shower with the jeans still on her body. She would just have to try to wash out some of the blood and mud and then try again to pull the jeans that were stuck to her skin. The deputy scrubbed at her upper body at let the warm water soak into her jeans. She grimaced at the color of the water that was going down the drain. Once she had gotten all the dirt and grime off her upper body and out of her hair, Padget went to work on trying to get her jeans off again. Even though the jeans were very heavy now that they were wet, the water had done its job and the jeans were no longer stuck to her skin. She peeled the jeans off with only mild trouble and threw them into the trash with the rest of her clothes along with her underwear.

 

      Padget was quick to finish washing up after getting out of the jeans. Once she was done and the water was shut off she moaned in wanton delight at the feeling of the soft towel that she used to dry herself off. She had not thought to grab any clothes from her room before getting into the shower, but lucky for her she had left her soft fluffy bathrobe hanging on the back of the bathroom door. Padget hung up her towel on one of the towel rods that filled the bathroom, pulled on her robe sighing in happiness at the warm, soft fabric, and then she quickly braided her long black hair, so it would be out of her way. That done the deputy left the bathroom and headed towards the sitting room/kitchen room of Dutch’s bunker. Even though it had only been about an hour or two since she last had something to eat, the rookie knew that frequent small meals were better than trying to get go back to eating normally again. As she passed by John’s room, she missed the surprised yet longing glance he sent her way as headed towards food.

 

     Once she came into the blue tented room the deputy almost squealed in happiness to see a small bowl of soup sitting on the rickety table on which Padget and Dutch ate meals. Padget sat down and tried to show restraint as she tucked into her food. Dutch sat across from the young woman and ate a larger bowl of soup with some bread rolls. The two allies sat in silence at ate their food. Once they had finished Padget fixed a bowl of soup with two rolls and took it to John. Dutch rolled his eyes at the rookie deputy but said nothing. Once John had his food Padget came back into the hall that held her bed room, the radio room, and the living room/ kitchen room. She spied Dutch in the radio room and moved in to sit down on one of the chairs in the room, so she and Dutch could talk. Dutch was busy letting everyone know that Padget was fine and back to fighting the good fight. He was currently on the radio with Mary May and Jerome. Padget smiled at hearing her friends voices. It had been too long since she talked to them. She had last checked in with the Resistance in Holland Valley two weeks before she went into the Whitetail Mountains to start taking down Jacob’s operations. Padget had been undermining Jacob’s control in the Whitetails for a month and a half before she had been taken the first time. She had rested in the Wolf’s Den for two weeks before heading back into the fight. Then she had been fighting for three weeks before being caught this last time. Having been held by the cult for twenty-four days meant that his had been four months since she had been in contact with all the people of Holland Valley. She hoped that everything was still okay in the valley. From the sound of Dutch’s conversation with Jerome and Mary May though it sounded like things were fine.

 

     Once Dutch got done with the Resistance in Holland Valley, promising them that Padget would call them herself soon, he turned to call the Whitetail Militia. When Padget heard Eli’s voice come over the radio the rookie deputy curled into a ball and wanted to sob. Jacob had been training her to take out the wonderful man that did so much for all the people of the Whitetail Mountains. She hated what this cult was turning her into. She was already a murder, now they wanted her to be a weapon. Padget was so consumed by her thoughts she missed the conversation between Dutch and Eli completely. She was only brought out of her misery by a rough, sturdy hand on her knee.

 

      The young woman looked up at Dutch and after a beat threw herself into his chest sobbing onto his shirt. “They are trying to get me to kill Eli Dutch. Jacob has turned me into a weapon.”

 

     Padget felt Dutch’s arms come around her and that just made her sob harder. She vaguely heard Dutch murmuring calming words into her hair and felt him stroking her braid as her tried to get her to stop crying. It took a while, but eventually Padget managed to dry her eyes and pulled back from Dutch. She refused to look up at the old prepper, to see the judgement and hate in his eyes. Dutch however reached out and tilted her head up. The rookie was surprised when she found no hate or judgement, just sad understanding.

 

     The two allies watched each other for a bit, before a smile crept across Dutch’s weathered face. “So what’s the plan Kid?”

 

     Padget let out a watery chuckle and just shook her head in resignation. “It’s a little crazy and going to require a lot of help.”

 

    Dutch nodded his head and pulled away to get everyone on the radio. “Well let’s get everyone to the pizza bar then and get it worked out. Jacob needs to be taken care of soon as possible.”

 

     The weary man cast a side glance at the rookie deputy. “Although you have to rest up and get some meat on your bones before we take the final fight to Jacob.”

 

     Padget nodded her head, for once in complete agreement with Dutch. If they did this to soon or without a fully thought out plan she knew that it would all end badly. Dutch called everyone and scheduled for all of the people from the Resistance that could come to meet up in the Eight-Bit Pizza Bar in two days’ time. Once that was done he turned to look at the deputy who looked so small in her large bathroom. In the dim light of the room it was hard to tell what injuries the young woman had from her time with Jacob. He motioned her to follow him and they moved to the med room. Once Padget was sitting on a cot she held out her right wrist. The thing was black and blue but a quick feel along the wrist showed that it was most likely just a bad sprain. Dutch wrapped it up with an ace bandage and some wooden rods to keep it immobile for a while.

 

     “You got away light Kid. You’re not nearly as beat up as I thought you would be.” Dutch remarked once he was done with her wrist. Padget grimaced at him then spun around so her back was to the older man. Once he was behind her she dropped the robe off her shoulders and revealed the long marks that covered her back from the beating she had taken at the hand of Jacob’s men when she refused to do the trail and fought against the power of the song. Dutch hissed out a breath of air and then gently started tending to the marks. He made sure all the cuts were clean and not infected and smoothed a paste on her back that would help reduce the scaring and pain.

 

     Once he was done Padget bundled herself back up into the robe and stood up to go to her room and get some rest in an actual bed. On her way out she turned to Dutch and gave him a tired smile. “Thanks old man.”

 

     Dutch smiled back at the rookie deputy. “Welcome kid.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     The two days before the meeting with all the people of the Resistance flew by for Padget. The rookie deputy spent most of the time sleeping and eating. After she had slept for several hours after she got back to the bunker; Dutch had asked her about her time with Jacob and she told him everything. After that Dutch had made Padget go lay down in bed. Which she did happily, sleeping all the time, except when Dutch would wake her every four to five hours to eat something. She had started to gain just a bit of her weight back and was now able to tolerate slightly larger meals along with food of more substance. Padget had spent the whole time in the bunker cuddled up in her robe.

 

     But now Padget was back in her jeans, with new thigh holsters holder mew versions of all her favorite guns, a Rye and Daughter tank top, and was sitting in her truck again. She headed to the Eight-Bit Pizza Bar to fill in the Resistance members of her plans to get rid of the last herald of the Project at Eden’s Gate. She had already discussed the plan with Dutch that morning before she set out to meet her other friends turned family. The old prepper had agreed with the plan and thought it was a good idea, although he had contributed a few more ideas to the plan and pointed out some of the problem spots in the plan that the deputy had missed. Padget felt pretty confident with the plan. The only thing left to do was get everyone on board. Once she had a solid team backing her up it would be time to make the final move against the man in the mountains who thought human life was so easily disposed of and there would be no consequences for his actions. Well this time war was coming to him and there was going to be a reckoning.

 

     As Padget pulled into the Eight-Bit Pizza Bar she felt a smile form on her face at the sight of all her friends waiting for her. That included Hudson and Whitehorse. She instantly knew that this was going to be a fight the people of Hope County were going to win for once. She hoped out of her truck and embraced everyone.

 

     Once everyone had said hello again and they were all seated inside looking at Padget up on the small stage, she finally let her plan be known. “Okay guys, I need help taking Jacob down. I have a plan. It might be a little crazy, but I think if we all work together we can make it happen.”

 

     “You have gotten us this far rook. We are behind you no matter what.” Came Earl Whitehorse’s response.

 

     It was met with a “HERE! HERE!” From everyone else. Padget smiled at all the people who she would now count as her family and drew out a map of the Whitetail Mountains and the blue prints for the Veteran’s Center that Dutch had been saving for a time like this.

 

     “Okay so here is the plan…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to leave it on such a cliff hanger. I was going to put the attack in this chapter too, but it just got to long. So next chapter will be the plan in motion. Thank you for reading!


	4. Time to Put the Plan into Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to see the rookie deputy's plan in action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to keep this chapter as believable as possible. I used the pictures and video footage that is available of what the Veteran's center looks like and checked to see if you could pull up to Dutch's bunker in a van, which you can. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Thank you again for the kudos and comments. It is lovely to know that others are enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing it.

     “Is everyone in place?” Padget asked over the radio. She got all different forms of yes from her friends and the junior deputy got a grim smile on her face as she pulled down her mask and put it in place.

 

     “Let’s do this then…GO!” That was the cue for all the women of the resistance, all wearing the same outfits and masks, to attack their location. This was step two of Padget’s plan. All the women were wearing step three already, which were some form of ear plug. All except the deputy who had tiny ear phones that she was able to get from Larry in exchange for helping him with his mission to go to Mars (more like his mission to get evaporated). The ear phones were connected to a radio in Nick’s airplane that was flying overhead Padget right now and would continue to so even at the Veteran’s Center. They had figured out that he could circle the Veteran’s Center in one of the Peggie planes and no one knew it was Nick flying. This way Padget could not hear Jacob’s song and be further conditioned. However, this was just a precaution in case the deprogramming did not work.

 

     Padget was now running full tilt into the Stone Ridge Chalet were the Chosen were trained. At the same time all her female friends were hitting other parts of the Whitetail Mountains. Grace was ambushing the Fang Center, Jess was attacking the PIN-KO Radar Station, Hudson was laying waste to the Elk Jaw Lodge, Tracy was throwing everything she could at the Breakthrough Camp, Adelaide was on the ground for once shooting at anything that moved over where the Grill Steak used to be, Mary May was hitting the Grand View Hotel, one of the hired resistance members Linda was going at it over at the Whitetail Park Ranger Station, another Resistance member Diana was taking on Hawkeye Tunnel, and finally another hired Resistance member Jen was trying to take Jacob’s plane from the Landsdowne Airstrip. There was no stealth to any of the attacks. The point was to draw as much attention to themselves as possible. Then they were all supposed to get hit with bliss bullets and taken to the Veteran’s Center and Jacob. Then they could start step four of Padget’s plan to save Eli and take out the last herald of Eden’s Gate.

 

     The Resistance has spent weeks working together to get this plan to work. They had set up training grounds in the Henbane that mimicked the Veteran’s Center as much as possible with what Padget could remember and Nick’s fly-bys of the place. The women all knew how to use bobby pins to break out of the cages and had practiced dealing with Judges and a few of Jacob’s elite soldiers that they had managed to capture. Each woman had worked on becoming proficient with all types of weapons. So not matter what they got their hands on first they would still be deadly. They had plans to use this to their advantage, each of the Resistance girls going into Jacob’s region and causing some form of trouble with the weapon they were most known for, making sure if the opportunity came up to show how “weak” and “unskilled” they were with other types of weapons. Grace getting into a knife fight and not being able to really hold her own or Adelaide having to abandoned her helicopter (never Tulip of course) and fight with a gun on the ground.

 

     The women worked hard and trained pretty nonstop for a month. Once the women felt they were as ready as they ever could be they started the plan. Step one of the plan was for Padget to go into the Mountains wearing a certain outfit that all the others could wear and cause enough trouble to be hunted again. So Padget dutifully went to work with Peaches and Boomer by her side. Adelaide was on standby to whisk Padget out of the mountains was soon as she had pissed off Jacob enough. It took a while since she was avoiding the spots that they were going to use in the plan. But soon the rookie deputy had saved enough hostages, taken out all the wolf beacons, and stopped the cult from jamming the radio signals in the mountains allowing Wheaty to play his music over the airways. That last one was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back and sent Jacob over the edge. He called out Padget on the radio and she instantly radioed Adelaide for a getaway before blocking her ears on the off chance that he would try to use the song to get Padget again. Step one complete it was time to move on to step two.

 

     Padget barley dodged a knife to the abdomen before gunning down a cultist who seemed more interested in killing the thorn in the cults side rather than capturing her like he had been instructed to do. The rather large amount of food that the deputy had consumed right before this attack making the deputy a bit slower than she normally was. Right before enacting the plan the girls had all eaten well and made sure they were thoroughly hydrated so they were prepared for the worst-case scenario. That being Jacob was too busy dealing with some cult matter or another to come to the Veteran’s Center right away. The next steps in the plan had to wait for Jacob or they would be pointless.

 

     Finally a bliss coated arrow lodged into Padget’s right thigh and she went down grabbing at the appendage. Sparkles started to fill the rookie's vision and all she could hear was the loud sound of rock music. Beneath the mask a smile crept up the rookie’s face right before she passed out. Step two complete.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Being violently shaken woke Padget out of the bliss stupor she had been forced into. She groaned softly at the headache that always came with the Bliss, but she was excited to see no sparkles in her vision and her limbs did not feel as heavy as they normally did after a drug trip into the bliss. Perhaps she was finally working up a tolerance to the horrid drug. The rookie deputy groaned as rock music blared loudly in her ears and only added to her headache.

 

     However after a moment, Padget became aware of very muffled voices yelling over her head. She took a moment to take stock of what was going on around her.  Glancing around she saw that she was being held in a member of the cults arms. He was violently shaking her every now and again towards his fellow peggies. Looking around she was that she was being held in front of a cage with a body of one of the members of the Whitetail Militia that she had met once or twice, Walker she thinks his name was. Padget sighed and sent a sorry in the direction of his corpse. Feeling the weight of all the people she had been unable to save settle on her shoulders once again. She took a moment to feel that weight pressing down on her and then she shoved it into the deep recesses of her mind to deal with after this whole war was over. Padget continued to look around. She was defiantly back in the yard of the Veteran’s center. The question was had her friends been brought back too?  Looking hard into the cages that she could see, something she generally tried to avoid doing, she let out a sigh of relief that the plan had worked at least partly when she spied others dressed just like her around the area. In the four cages across from her one of her friends had been dumped in the floor of each cage with living members of the Whitetail’s crouching over them. Next to the cage Padget was in front of with the dead Whitetail one of the girls had been thrown into each cage on the left and right with a dead judge. That only left three girls unaccounted for.

 

     Padget started to twist around, trying to see if the other girls were anywhere else she could see. The grip on her arms tightened, but the rookie ignored it. Finally, a little down the way she saw two of the women in two other cages with what looked like were civilian corpses. Satisfied that only one of the girls was left unaccounted for, Padget turned her attention to the men surrounding her and trying to figure out what they were saying. Each of the women that had gone into this mission had practiced lip reading so they would be able to communicate without hearing. Padget quickly figured out that the cult members were arguing about what had happened at their stations with each one of the “deputies” and why that attacks had happened.

 

     Padget smirked and had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing when another Peggie came around the corner with the last “deputy” over his shoulder. When this happened the voices got even louder and then Padget and the late arrival “deputy” were thrown into the cage with the corpse of the Whitetail. Padget grunted in displeasure and pushed herself up to a shaky standing position before going over to check on her friend who had been thrown into the cage with the rookie deputy. It turned out that it was Mary May who had been thrown into the cage with Padget. She seemed to be fine, just knocked out from the bliss. It would probably take Mary May, Hudson, Jess, and Grace the longest to come out of the drug. All the other members of the plan had lived in the Henbane Region and had built up a bit of a tolerance to the bliss drug. Sure enough when Padget went to the bars of the cage to try to look at the other Resistance members that she could see. The girls on either side of Padget’s cage were starting to wake up, shifting and grabbing at their heads. Three of the four women in cages with the Whitetails were being helped into a sitting position and offered water. Padget let out another sigh of relief. There was nothing left to do now but wait.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Nighttime had come and gone and brought with it a rather chilly morning. All the women of the Resistance had woken up and they were all patiently waiting for Jacob to make an appearance. None of the women had taken off their masks and for some reason none of the Peggies had thought to take off any of the mask either. Padget was also surprised by the fact that Jacob had not shown up yet. She was sitting in the middle of the cage holding Jess close to ward off the chill in the air. The rookie deputy had convinced Jess to get some sleep while Padget kept watch for Jacob. The rookie deputy wondered what was keeping the large man from coming to rub it in her face that she had been caught along with all her friends. He was never one to waist an opportunity to gloat. Come to think of it, the rookie deputy had not seen Pratt either, and he was always nearby to offer her words of “encouragement” to be strong. This probably meant that Jacob was somewhere else and the soldiers were to afraid of his reaction to the multiple "deputies" to tell him outright of her capture.

 

     Just then Padget saw Jacob storming towards the cages with Pratt following behind like one of the Judges. Think of the devil and he shall appear, thought Padget darkly as she shook Jess awake. It was almost time to start phase four of the plan.

 

     Padget turned her back to Jacob and everyone else so she could untape the tiny flair that she had taped into the inside of her mask. The flair was another gadget that the rookie had gotten from Larry. It would only work twice, but that should be enough. Once she had the flair out of her mask and hidden up her sleeve she turned her attention back to Jacob. She focused back on him, just in time to watch him storm into one of the cages holding one of her friends and rip the mask from the other woman’s head, revealing Tracy’s glaring face. Despite the fact that Tracy was glaring up at Jacob, the angry women made no move against the solider. Seeing that it was Tracy and not Padget Jacob just scoffed and moved on to the next Resistance member in the next cage.

 

     This continued until he got to the cage holding Jess and Padget. Once he came to their cage the two women pulled off their masks and revealed themselves to Jacob. Seeing that one of the women was indeed Padget, some of the anger bled out of Jacob and was replaced with smug satisfaction. The scared man then pulled out his little music box and started to play the things, only to become angry when the music did nothing to Padget. The rookie deputy merely smiled calmly at the man, knowing this would just make him all the angrier.

 

     Sure enough Jacob shouted something at Pratt, making the broken man hunch in on himself, before Jacob stormed away and back into the Veteran’s Center. The women all locked eyes and sprang into action as soon as Jacob was back inside. The women pulled the bobby pins out of their hair and went to work on the locks of the cage. Jacob’s rage had worked in their favor and all the guards had scattered from the area. The women freed themselves quickly from the cages and Padget sent out one of her two flairs. The women then grouped together with their “plan buddy” and ran into different directions just like they had practiced.

 

     Jess, Jen, Hudson, and Diana started freeing all the people from the cages. Jen and Diana focused on freeing people and Hudson and Jess on giving Jen and Diana protection while they freed the prisoners. Grace, Mary May, Linda, and Tracy headed towards the entrance of the Veteran’s Center to meet up with the other Resistance members who were now coming at the center from all angles having been stationed in camps surrounding the center before the women put part two of the plan into action. None of the Peggies would be getting out of the center alive tonight. Finally, Adelaide and Padget headed for the Veteran’s Center. It was Padget’s job to take out Jacob. Adelaide was just coming with the rookie deputy to make sure Padget got to Jacob.

 

     As the two women burst through the door of the Center they were met with two armed guards. The guards looked scared when they saw Padget, but when they caught site of Adelaide they instantly became cocky. Padget and Adelaide exchanged a quick knowing look, their plan to seem weak in different styles of fighting having seeming to have worked, before springing into action. Adelaide expertly avoiding a spray of bullets before turning and delivering an uppercut to one of the guards with her elbow. The older woman then grabbed the man’s gun and using her body weight disarmed him before shooting him between the eyes. Meanwhile Padget slid under the bullet spray coming from the other guard and then slid under the guard himself. As the rookie deputy slid between the man’s legs she grabbed his shins and pulled him down to the floor. Once he was down Padget jumped to her feet and round house kicked him in the head knocking him unconscious and then she took his gun. Once both men were down the two women rifled through their pockets and took whatever they found. Which included a grenade. Once they were armed the two hurried through the center trying to find Jacob and taking out anyone that got in their way. Every time Padget pulled the trigger on the gun she had to remind herself that it was kill or be killed.

 

     Lucky for both the women most of the Peggies had run outside the Center itself into the yard when almost the whole of the Resistance came charging over the walls of the center and into the fight. They were coming out of one of the last rooms in the first floor of the Center when Sharky came running into the building. Spying the two women he pointed up at the ceiling, mimed the action of holding up a sniper rifle and then pointed to the front of the building. Adelaide just looked confused, but Padget instantly knew what he was saying and grabbed the other woman’s elbow pulling her up the stairs. Once they got to the top of the stairs they were faced with four heavily armed guards two of which were posted in front of one door. Knowing the guns would do no good against any of the guards, Adelaide and Padget threw their guns away and charged. Both women charged the guards, but Padget was just trying to get past them to get to Jacob. To many of her friends were at risk in that yard if he was in a decent sniper position. The rookie deputy trusted Addie to be able to take care of herself against the guards. 

 

     Padget easily pushed past the first two, one of them distracted by Addie and the other with a good elbow to face. The other two had left the front of the door to try to deal with the two women and Padget simply slid under them to the door. She was afraid the door was locked, but a quick twist of the handle proved it was not. The rookie deputy pulled the door open dashed inside the room beyond and slammed the door shut. Right after the door was shut a large explosion shook the whole building knocking Padget and the two men she was now in the room with down. Pratt was cowering in the corner of the room and his mouth started to move frantically when he saw Padget.

 

     The rookie deputy ignored the man and turned her attention to Jacob who was now focusing on her. Padget, seeing he was still holding his large red sniper rifle charged the man head on. She was surprised when she hit him, and he staggered backwards slightly. Knowing she needed to get the rifle out of his hands, Padget grabbed onto the arm holding the massive thing in both hands and managed to slam the arm into the wall right by the open window. Jacob’s free hand grabbed onto her shirt and started to pull her away, but Padget managed to surge forward and bite down on Jacob’s arm in one spot that was scar free. Once her teeth sank into his arm he dropped the rifle. Padget grabbed the obnoxious thing and threw it out the window right as Jacob wrapped his hand in her hair and threw the rookie deputy into the wall opposite the window.

 

     The wind was knocked out of Padget, but she disregarded that and forced herself to fly out of the way as Jacob came at her slashing the air with his giant hunting knife. The rookie was briefly distracted as the knife came swinging down at her again, by Pratt getting pulled out of the room by Adelaide. Because of the distraction the rookie deputy dodged Jacob’s swing just a little too late and he sliced a good-sized cut across her upper arm. Padget had to keep dodging Jacob around the room as he swung the knife at her. Getting desperate Padget searched herself for anything she could use against the soldier and all she had left on her was one grenade. That would definitely stop the man, but it would also probably damage if not kill herself. Before she could decide what she was going to do Jacob tackled her to the ground causing the grenade to go flying out of her hands. The grenade hit the wall opposite the pair behind Jacob in the small room and Padget was left staring up at Jacob as he loomed over her knife raised.

 

     However, before the soldier could gut the rookie deputy like one of the fish that Padget caught so often, a large explosion erupted from behind Jacob. The explosion threw Jacob and Padget into the wall banging their heads together and blackness enveloped the rookie deputy.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget came to feeling like she had been hit by the Widowmaker and with a couple of suspiciously wet and sticky spots on several spots of her body. Padget groaned and raised a hand to her head. The rookie deputy ears were ringing, but she could tell that the music that had been blaring in her ears up until the explosion was no longer playing. When Padget opened her eyes she was not surprised to see her vision was cloudy and doubled. The explosion had been so close she was amazed she was still alive. Speaking of alive.

 

     With a groan Padget pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around the area. As she observed the destruction Padget pulled the tiny earbuds out of her ear, not surprised to find the things fried. Larry had said they were delicate after all. Across from where Padget was now sitting there was a hole in the wall and what had once been a spartan bunk was now exploded. Bits of metal that had made up the frame of the bed and most likely the base were imbedded in the walls all over the place, having acted as shrapnel. Glancing down at her own body she had very little shrapnel embedded in her own body. Jacob having been on top of her when the grenade went off causing her enemy to act as a shield of sorts. Padget then turned to look at Jacob, the man lying on the ground not far from the rookie. The soldier was motionless and Padget crawled over to see if he was still alive or not. She was shocked when she found a pulse, even though it was faint. Padget slumped over the man’s body for a while as she tried to decide what to do.

 

     It was at that point that the smell of smoke reached Padget’s nose. Looking up alarmed, she found that they only door out of the room was ablaze. The hole created by bomb was also on fire, leaving the only way out of the room the window. Padget pulled herself up to standing and as quickly as possible went to look out the window. The parking area of the building was surprisingly empty, but there was a peggie prisoner van just underneath the window. Padget dropped her head down and could already hear what Dutch was going to say about what she was about to do.

 

     Padget moved quickly as an alarm started to sound throughout the Veteran’s center. It was not an alarm like the ones the Peggies used to call for back up, but rather was an alarm like the kind that had gone off in Faith’s bunker when she had destroyed the drug filled nightmare. It seemed like the Veteran’s Center was going to go up in flames soon. Padget searched the room for rope. Once she found that she grabbed Jacob’s hunting knife and embedded the cursed thing into the wall right below the window. Padget then searched Jacob making sure he had no more weapons on him. Only finding his music box on him, which the rookie promptly threw on the ground and smashed under her foot, Padget then tied some of the rope around the soldier’s waist. Huffing out a pained breath Padget grabbed Jacob under his arms and drug him over to the window. Once he was leaning against the window she wrapped all the extra length of rope around her arm before as gently as possible pushing and pulling Jacob to dangle out the window. With a final shove he went over the window and it took all of Padget’s strength to stop him from crashing onto the prisoner van and to stop herself from flying out the window with the man. Once she had him dangling from the window and had her balance, the rookie slowly lowered the man to the top of the prisoner van.

 

     Padget was having a hard time breathing by the time she felt the tension in the rope go slack, signifying that Jacob was now laying on the top of the van. Padget then tied the rest of the rope that she was holding around the handle of Jacob’s knife that was stuck in the wall and she used the rope as a makeshift grappling hook. Lowering herself down beside Jacob, the rookie took a moment to catch her breath. A large earth-shaking explosion from the building above the rookie deputy made Padget move back into gear. She untied the rope from around Jacob then considered what she was going to do next. Biting her lip Padget picked Jacob up under the arms again and then threw herself backwards off the top of the truck onto the ground. Keeping her chin tucked into her chest so she wouldn’t hit her head a second time today, Padget took the brunt of the fall. It jarred the deputy and knocked the breath out of her, but otherwise she didn’t feel much worse off than she had when she woke up from the explosion. With a lot of huffing and puffing the rookie pulled Jacob into the back of the prisoner van.

 

     After laying the man down on his front so as not to push any shrapnel farther into his back, Padget swiftly hopped out of the back of the van, shut the doors, and then power walked to the driver’s seat. Lucky for Padget the keys had been left in the ignition. The rookie started up the van and started to pull away from the Veteran’s Center. As she headed towards the gate she saw Resistance and Peggies alike hightailing it out of the center. Right about then the whole building exploded. Padget hoped that all her people made it out okay. However there would be no way to know who had made it and who had not until she got her hands on a radio and the Resistance had been given a change to regroup at the jail. With the blood now streaming down Padget’s face from where she had hit the wall in the explosion and the blood still coming out of the cut on her arm where Jacob had sliced her, the rookie knew she needed to get to Dutch and fast.

 

     Padget disregarded all speed limits and pushed the prisoner van to go as fast as possible. Knowing that the fastest way to Dutch was to go off road onto the railway bridge, so that is exactly what she did. She flew the prisoner van over the railroad bridges into the Henbane. Then once she was back on the main road she followed the main road past the Hollyhock Salon, the Vasquez Residence and the Barlow Residence until she came to the gravel road that leads to Dutch’s Island. In no time at all she was speeding over the uneven surface of the gravel road headed straight for Dutch’s Bunker. She did not even stop at the end of the gravel road like she normally would have, instead she forced the van to go off road all the way the way to the door of Dutch’s bunker. She finally pulled up right outside her haven and with the rest of her strength climbed out of the truck, banged on Dutch’s door, and then went to the back of the van and opened the doors to check on Jacob. Somehow the man was still breathing. With a shake of her head, Padget collapsed beside him just as she saw Dutch’s blurred figure coming around the corner of the van with a shotgun pointed at her, just like when he first saved her.


	5. The Collapse is Coming Can You Feel It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padget is recovering from the big fight against Jacob Seed, but before she can fully recover shit hits the fan. Mean while Jacob is around and feelings are growing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have another bit of a filler chapter here. I could not just let Padget get strait into the show down with Joseph. Please let me know what you think of the story so far. I promise their will eventually be some smut. Thank you for the comments and the kudos that have been left so far! I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

      _“The stranger had a big iron on his hip…”_

 

      Padget groaned as she started to wake up, the first sound reaching her ears was Dutch’s music faintly playing in the background. Well at least she was still alive even if she felt like she had died at least twice, was the first thought to cross her brain.

 

     “Damn it Kid, I can’t believe you did this to yourself. All for that bastard too.” Dutch’s voice flowed over the rookie deputy like a soothing balm, despite the pain rocketing through her body with every breath she drew.

 

     “Knew you were going to say that Dutch.” Padget managed to groan out, her voice barely a whisper.

 

     “Christ kid! What the hell were you thinking?” Padget felt Dutch’s rough hands cupping her face and pushing her hair out of her face.

 

      Padget went to shrug only to whimper at the pain the slammed into her when she tried to move. Taking a second for the pain to reduce a bit Padget tried to open her eyes. Once she got them open again she was thankful to see her doubled and blurred vison had disappeared, and her vision was back to normal again.

 

     Padget tried to smile at Dutch, although she had a feeling it came out more like a grimace. “He was unconscious Dutch, couldn’t just kill him. That would make me no better than the rest of the cult.” Padget rasped out to a man whom she had come to see as a father. Dutch just shook his head and held a water bottle up to Padget’s lips. The rookie deputy took a few painful sips before dropping her head back against the pillows. She watched through lidded eyes as Dutch moved around her, checking the iv drip he had running into her arm and then checking her bandages. Padget then realized that her legs and arms were just masses of bandages and it occurred to her that she must have been in worse shape than she had known. Padget grimaced as she glanced at her limbs. She wouldn’t call herself a vain person, but the thought of all the scars she was going to have when this was all over were moderately depressing.

 

      Dutch noticed where Padget was looking and laid his hand gently on her shoulder. “Hey kid…not gonna lie your marked up pretty bad, but they are marks of courage and prove what a strong person you are. Heck you have almost completely freed this county! Nearly single handed too!”

 

     Padget appreciated what Dutch was trying to do for her and gave him a small smile. She glanced back down at her body and tried to figure out the damage done in the latest fight. Dutch moved around Padget checking on her bandages and explaining her wounds.

 

     "You caught a couple of bullets to the torso, but nothing near as bad as when you fought John's people. All that extra training must have really helped. You got bad rope burns on both arms, a nasty cut on your upper arm that looks like it came from a knife which needed stitches, a pretty deep cut on your forehead which again needed stitches, and you had several places on your legs that had shrapnel embedded in then."

 

     Dutch came back around to the head of Padget's cot and gave a rueful smile down at the rookie deputy. "Now I ain't no medic, but I did the best I could to get all the shrapnel out and sew you back up."

 

     Dutch hesitated for a moment before continuing, "You may have some muscle damage Kid."

 

     Padget let out a sign and tried to move her legs and feet, she could move everything okay, but it came with a lot of pain.

 

     "Everything seems okay right now Dutch and either way Thank you." Padget told the old prepper truthfully.

 

     Dutch smiled a relieved smile and laid a gentle hand on Padget's shoulder. The two Resistance leaders gazed at each other for a bit, before the moment was interrupted by a series of coughs coming from a different bed in the med room. Padget glanced over to where the cough had come from and was surprised to see an alive Jacob stirring in a nearby cot. Padget was not sure that the soldier was going to survive what he and the rookie had been through. However, Padget should have known that the stubborn, annoying man was going to survive.

 

     “Fuck the fucker survived.” Dutch cursed as he moved to Jacob’s side, checking over the oldest Seed sibling. Padget laughed internally, for all his bitching at her for sparing the Seeds, Dutch himself had a kind side, otherwise he would never have helped Padget save to brothers in the first place. It was the same side that Dutch willingly showed Padget pretty frequently. The fatherly caring side that was not any happier about all this war and death than Padget was. It was a side of Dutch that had been hidden for a while since his Son had left him. Dutch missed his grandchild something horribly and had also missed having someone around to look after and protect. Padget had never really had a father figure in her life and Dutch had easily stepped into the role. The two now had a pretty close bond and would willingly die for each other. It was because of this relationship that Padget knew she could bring the Seed brothers to Dutch. While he might not be happy about he wouldn't question the rookie deputy to hard and would never judge her.

  

     As she thought about all this Padget watched Jacob closely as the man came back into the world of the living. Jacob was laying on his back and was only in a pair of pants. Dutch had wrapped bandages all around the soldier’s torso, so it looked like the oldest Seed brother was wearing a sleeveless shirt made of bandages. Jacob's arms and legs seemed to be fine except for one bandaged place on his arm, the place where Padget had bitten the man. Jacob had been tied down to the bed, but unlike John he was tied down at both the wrists and ankles. Padget could tell that Dutch was not taking any chances with this particular Seed. The old prepper was very familiar with Jacob’s personal brand of crazy, having comforted Padget after she had been brainwashed by the soldier and having done his research on the man when the cult first started taking over the county.

 

     As Jacob came around she could tell the precise moment that the eldest Seed brother realized he was alive. She watched the shock flash across his face and the rookie deputy realized with a jolt of shock that Jacob had not planned to live through his confrontation with her. It did not take long for Jacob’s shock to be replaced with anger, especially when he tried to move and found himself tied down to the bed.

 

     Padget, worried for Dutch, forced herself to move when she saw the anger roll across Jacob’s face. The rookie deputy pushed aside her pain to lurch out of bed and grab Dutch’s arm, so she could pull the older man away from Jacob’s bed. Once Dutch was safely away from Jacob, the rookie deputy collapsed down to the floor fighting back tears of pain. At the same time Padget collapsed, a fearsome roar ripped out of Jacob’s mouth and the soldier started to fling himself back and forth on his narrow cot. Padget had no doubt that had he been at his full strength the ties holding the oldest Seed brother down would have snapped and he would be ripping through both her and Dutch just like his judge wolfs ripped effortlessly though peoples skin.

 

     “Jesus Christ kid! Why the hell would you save this psycho?” Was all Dutch could say before reaching down and pulling Padget up as gently as possible into his arms.

 

     Before Padget could respond to the old resistance leader Jacob caught sight of the rookie deputy and started fighting against his bonds all the harder.

 

     “You Bitch! Why would you do this to me? You kill my little brother and then can’t finish the job with me?” Jacob snarled at Padget as he thrashed around.

 

     Before Padget or Dutch could say anything in response to Jacob’s accusations a voice called out Jacob’s name from another part of the bunker. It was John calling out to his brother.

 

     At the sound of John’s voice, Jacob went very still. It was almost as though the sound of John’s voice had put Jacob into a comma like state. Padget realized that the brothers might want to see each other and started to push against Dutch so he would put her down, so she could go get John. However, at the one push against Dutch’s strong chest Padget cried out weakly and went limp in his arms. She was in too much pain to do much of anything at this point. Although seeing as she had been in a fight, been hit with bliss bullets, wrestled with a man several inches taller than her, been blown up, and then had to grapple herself and a large fully-grown man out of a burning building she was lucky to just be alive.

 

     “Shit Kid!” Dutch cried out as he laid Padget down softly in cot she had woken up in, “What were you thinking?” He asked of the rookie deputy.

 

     Padget let out a weak chuckle. “I thought that I would go get John, so the brothers could see each other.”

 

     At Dutch’s harsh look Padget felt a need to explain herself to the older man. “It might help them both be calm and cooperative.”

 

     Dutch stood by Padget’s bedside for a while before letting out a groan. “Fine kid I’ll go get the little fucker.”

 

     The old prepper could be heard grumbling as he left the med room and headed for what had become John’s room in the bunker. Jacob had turned to stare a Padget where she was laying on the other cot in the room. Padget did her best not to squirm under the soldier’s hard stare. Despite how exhausted and in pain she was it was still hard not to fidget under the intense stare that every Seed brother seemed a pro at giving. To help herself not fidget and thus make her pain worse Padget turned her attention to the ceiling and focused on listening to Dutch rant at John. She could hear the older man telling the youngest Seed to think twice about pulling any funny business. John was surprisingly silent through all of Dutch’s bitching.

 

     Soon enough John was coming through the door way into the med ward with his hands tied in front of himself. When John saw Jacob laying on the bed and alive the youngest Seed instantly ran to his brother’s side. John knelt down beside Jacob and gently buried his face in the oldest Seed’s side. Jacob just stared at John for a while. Eventually Jacob grabbed at John with the hand closest to his baby brother and closed his eyes.

 

      Padget and Dutch watched the scene out of the corner of their eyes. They felt that this was a very private and personal moment for the two brothers and wanted to give them the privacy they could. Dutch however was not going to turn away when John was relatively free, and he was not going to leave Padget in the room alone with the two Seed brothers no matter what. Padget for her part wanted to pass out again, but her body was in fight or flight mode with the two Seed brothers being so close to her. She glanced at the brothers again and wondered how long they were going to stay pressed together. She had no doubt that they would probably stay like that for hours if given the opportunity. Well, Jacob would anyway. He was very patient. John, maybe because of the circumstances, plus he was so touched starved thanks to his horrible adopted parents.

 

     Padget was pulled out of her thoughts by John standing up from his kneeling position. Jacob opened his eyes and the two brothers locked eyes. The Seeds seemed to hold a silent conversation between the two of them.

 

     After a few minutes, John turned to look at Padget. “Thank you, Wrath for saving my brother…” John eyed the rookie deputy for a moment before continuing with a smirk on his face, “Saving me and my brother…I may just have to reevaluate your sin.”

 

      “Why you!” Dutch snarled out at the youngest Seed. Padget just shook her head at the old prepper. She knew John was hoping for a response and she refused to give him one.

 

     “Well you do that John. For now, you have to go back to your room.” Padget simply said to the man as she settled more comfortably into the pillows of her cot.

 

     When John did nothing more than dip his head in acknowledgement of her statement, Padget had to stop herself from gaping at the youngest Seed like a fool. John turned to Jacob and leaned over the prone man. John pressed his forehead to Jacob’s forehead for a moment before straightening up and sauntering out of the room in his typical arrogant manner. Dutch just shook his head as he followed John out of the med room.

 

     Jacob turned his attention back to Padget. The rookie deputy blocked out the soldier’s stare. She really felt the fatigue from the fight against the eldest Seed settling into her bones. Before she could fall asleep however Dutch was back in the room and hover over the rookie deputy like a mother hen. Padget smiled weakly up at Dutch and assured the old man that she was okay.

 

     It then hit Padget that she had no idea how her friends were doing from the attack on the Veteran’s Center. She tried to push herself up to sitting, but Dutch instantly gently pushed her back down by her shoulders. Giving up on sitting up, Padget grabbed Dutch’s forearms and looked up into the old prepper’s face.

 

     “How is the Resistance?” She enquired to Dutch.

 

     The head of the all the Resistance efforts smiled down at Padget and pushed her black hair away from her face. “Only lost three fighters on our side kid. You did good.”

 

     Padget closed her eyes at the news that three more innocent people had lost their lives in this horrible war. Every time she would come across a body strung up on a bridge or laying in the road the rookie deputy would feel the pain of the loss of these Residents of Hope County deep in her soul. Dutch had told her time and again that she did what she could for the people of the county and no one blamed her for any of the lives that were lost. Still Padget could not help but think if she was a little faster at taking out the Seeds or had not rested as much as she had maybe more people would be alive today. The risk of losing more people had been one of the reasons the rookie deputy had not wanted to act out the plan she had come up with to take down Jacob. At the same time Padget knew that if she didn’t get help then more people would die anyway, including Eli.

 

     Dutch sat beside the rookie deputy and kept stroking her hair while he waited for her to ask more questions. The prepper knew how much she blamed herself for each and every death of the residents of Hope County. Heck, she even blamed herself for the death of all the peggies. She did more than any of the rest of the Resistance members and saw the Peggies as actual people rather than just an enemy that needed to be taken out.

 

     With a deep breath Padget opened her eyes again and gazed up at Dutch. Asking with her eyes what she was too afraid to ask out loud. At this point Dutch knew Padget so well that he instantly knew what she was asking.

 

     “The three that gave their lives were just local residents of Hope County. It was Dan Cooke, and Liz and Sally Ambrose.”

 

      Padget frowned at the news that the Ambrose sisters had lost their lives fighting. She had not been as close with Sally, but Liz often went out scouting with Padget and always found great herbs that Padget used to help her fight the cult. She had met Dan Cooke a couple of times as he had been a protector of the jail, but she had never really spoken to the marksman.

 

     After giving Padget a chance to take in the information of who had died Dutch carried on, “That other Deputy. Pratt, right? Is back in Fall’s End with Hudson. He seems fine if a little damaged from his time…” Dutch glanced over in Jacob’s direction for a moment before looking back at Padget, “in the mountains.”

 

      Padget nodded at Dutch, let go of his arms, and relaxed more into the bed. She was happy to know that all the women who had been main players in her plan against Jacob were okay and that Pratt was safely back with Hudson.

 

     “Rest now kid, if any one deserves a rest it is you.” Dutch told Padget gently before he stood up and moved over to check on Jacob. Padget gratefully let the hum of the bunker’s generator lull her to sleep. She knew there was still one more fight that had to be fought, but that fight would be saved for another day.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget slept for several days. The exhausted rookie deputy only woke up now and again to be fed some food by Dutch and to use the restroom, or to be more precise the bed pan. Thankfully this method of resting seemed to work well for Padget and when she woke up on the fourth day she no longer felt like death warmed over.

 

     Padget stretched slightly in the narrow cot she was laying in, making sure to be careful of her stitches. As she raised her arms above her head the rookie deputy wrinkled her nose at the smell coming from her underarms. Padget needed a shower now. Not only was she starting to really stink, but she felt gross. As she carefully pushed herself up into sitting she saw Dutch walk into the room.

 

     “Hey old man. I actually feel kinda like a person today!” Padget joked with Dutch.

 

     “Although I need a shower something awful I smell like one of the skunks running around the valley sprayed me…”  Padget trailed off when she saw the concerned look on Dutch’s face.

 

     “What’s wrong?” She asked softly as she pulled herself to standing.

 

     Dutch grimaced at Padget and glanced up at the ceiling for a second before meeting her stare. “Joseph is calling you out Kid.”

 

     Padget cocked her head to the side and considered the old prepper for a moment before she responded. “Yeah of course he is, that is what we have wanted the whole time right?”

 

     Dutch rubbed at the back of his neck. “Yeah, but he has taken some people…”

 

     The rest of Dutch’s words were lost to Padget at the news that he had taken her people. Her family. Padget started to move towards exit. No one touched her family. But, before she could take more than a few steps Dutch was blocking her path and grabbing on to her shoulders.

 

     “Let go Dutch! I have to go save them.” Padget snarled at the man as she fought against his hold.

 

     “Kid if you go charging into battle right now you are not going to save anyone!” Dutch yelled in Padget’s face.

 

     Padget knew that Dutch was right and sagged in his hold. She dropped her head down onto Dutch’s shoulder and felt tears start to run down her face. Dutch pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her in a tight if gentle hug.

 

     “Don’t worry Kid. We will get them back it is just going to take a while. I think they will be okay until you are well enough to go after the Bastard”

 

     Padget nodded against Dutch’s shoulder. All the energy that Padget had woken up with had been drained out of her at the news that her family had been taken from her. Dutch pulled Padget back from his shoulder. He gave the rookie deputy a small soft smile, cupped her face in both his hands, and dried her tears.

 

     “Gotta stay strong Kid. You know they wouldn’t want you crumpling now.” Dutch reminded Padget. The rookie deputy nodded at Dutch and straightened up.

 

     “Gonna go take a shower Dutch.” She told the old man, before heading to bathroom in a bit of daze.

 

     Dutch watched her go with a concerned look on his face. As soon as she was out of the room however a scoff came from a cot near the front of the room. Dutch turned his attention to Jacob, who was laying on the cot.

 

     “She is too soft.” Jacob spat at the old prepper. His unspoken word of weak hanging in the silence in the bunker.

 

     Dutch clenched his jaw and his fists. “Just because she cares about the people of this county does not make her weak.”

 

     Dutch turned away from the eldest Seed and started to leave the room when he abruptly stopped and with out turning back to face Jacob quietly said, “Remember it is precisely because she is _soft_ that you and your brother are still alive today.”

 

     Dutch then left the room to go check on Padget. As Dutch was leaving he missed Jacob’s look of confusion, yet longing. On Jacob’s part, the eldest Seed desperately wanted the affection that the rookie deputy seemed to so easily give everyone else. Almost his whole life Jacob had never had anyone care about him so purely and effortlessly like the deputy seemed to care for everyone she came into contact with. On one of his brother’s visits to the med room, which Padget had insisted Dutch give the brothers, John had quietly confessed that he felt that the deputy was to good to be surrounded by sinners and only the most holy deserved to look upon her and receive her love.

 

     Jacob could tell then that his youngest brother wanted the deputy’s affection focused on the Seeds. Jacob knew that John had really wanted some out of the deputy besides a confession the whole time the two had been fighting. The youngest Seed sibling had been obsessed with the deputy after Joseph told John that he needed to love her. John had no idea how to really love someone, none of the Seed brothers did. Yet, John still tried to show his love to the deputy as best he could.

 

     Jacob knew that if John could have his way then the brothers would get out of this bunker, kill the old man, and take the deputy to the compound and lock her up only to be seen by the family. Jacob wondered if that was what Joseph had wanted too. The middle brother had never been specific about what he wanted with the deputy, only that they were not to be killed. When the deputy had taken out the latest Faith Jacob had figured that Joseph wanted the deputy to take Faith’s place. Seeing as how the newest Faith would generally take out the old Faith it looked like that was the logical conclusion.

 

     Instead of that coming out to the play, the deputy had continued to liberate the Henbane region until nothing was left of the cult and all the bliss flowers had been burned to ash. Then the deputy had moved into Holland Valley. She had fought long and hard for the people of the valley and from what John had told Jacob made some close friends. Then John had made the same mistake that Faith had. John had threatened the people closest to the deputy. The deputy had then fought John and supposedly killed him.

 

     Jacob had been so mad when he found out that the deputy had ended his little brother. Faith was nothing really. She was a tool. There had been other before this one and there could be another Faith again. John though, John was true family and family came above all else. Jacob had confronted Joseph after John’s death. He had demanded to know what Joseph was playing at, because it was okay to ask Jacob to give up his life for the project and Joseph’s vision, but not their little brother, not John. Joseph had shared that this was not what he thought would happen. He did not want John to lay down his life for the project. He had warned John to not get caught up in wrath because if he did then his sin would consume him whole. John had not listened. John had acted on his own. Jacob had still been furious, but he channeled his anger towards the deputy. He knew sooner or later she would be coming into his region to face him and he would be ready.

 

     Jacob scoffed at that thought. He had though he had been ready. He had planed and made a strategy and had controlled his anger with the deputy into a simmering rage once she started to create trouble in his region. None of that had mattered in the end though. She had still outsmarted him and beat him at his own game. Granted this just made her all the more appealing to the soldier.

 

     He had noticed she was a pretty thing when she had first shown up at the church to arrest Joseph, but Jacob had never thought much of her after that until she went through his trials. She was not the best fighter or the best shot, although that surprised him considering she tended to snipe everything, but she was certainly creative. She had done her best to kill as little as possible, despite the fact that she was being conditioned to kill. She would sneak past the other imaginary soldiers whenever she could. However, when she would take out a soldier and Jacob would praise her, he saw something in the deputy blossom. She seemed to grow taller and more confident with each praise. None of the other people he had conditioned ever acted like she had. It was very…interesting and just made her all the more intriguing.

 

     Jacob had thought he would lose his life to the deputy when the Resistance attack on the jail happened, but that had not happened. Instead the deputy had saved him. She had also saved his little brother. Jacob thought back on what the old prepper had said to him. _Her caring does not make her weak_. Jacob still disagreed with the old man. Her caring did make her weak, because she cared for the wrong people. It was one thing to care for family, but it was another to care for regular old anybody out on the street. The deputy put her faith in the wrong people, but it’s okay. She could be protected by those stronger than her. He might not be at his strongest right now, but when he was back to full strength Jacob would keep the deputy safe. The end was coming, and Jacob had a feeling that it was closer than ever. When the end came however, some way, some how, Jacob would make sure his family was all together and that now included the deputy. He and his brothers would keep her safe from the collapse and safe from the prying eyes of the rest of the world, even the fatihful. After all John was right, no one else but the most holy were worthy of her presence.


	6. Wrapping Things up in Hope County

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padget is healing well physically, but mentally things are a little rough. However a call for help had Padget pulling herself together and back to running around the county to help all those in need while waiting for a call to face Joseph Seed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back! I am so sorry for my absence, my chronic illness conditions have been kicking me left and right and my jobs take priority so I can pay my bills. This chapter is a bit of a filler, but I promise that lots of juice stuff will be in the next chapter! :) Thank you so much for sticking with me!

     Padget was in a daze for a few days after Dutch had given her the news about Resistance members being taken by the cult, some having been snatched straight out of Fall’s End. Dutch had given no specific names and Padget had not asked. The rookie deputy had not wanted to know whom of those which she had formed such a close bond with had been doomed by her to a horrible fate at the hands of the cult. She thought about all the horrible things that could have been done to all the wonderful people left in Hope County. Both Padget’s waking and sleeping hours were filled with nightmares. When awake Padget thought back to all the people strung up around Hope County and pictured that happening to Mary May, Pastor Jerome, Casey, Kim, Nick, Baby Rye, Grace, Ray-Ray and her family, and all the civilians that lived in Fall’s End. At night Padget saw all her friends being used for target practice or burned alive; oh, how Padget hated the Peggies that liked to play with fire. Padget was not one for killing if it could be avoided, often going out of her way to sneak around groups of Peggies if they did not have a captured civilian or were not attacking a resistance fighter. However, the rookie deputy always shot those Peggies that walked around with flame throwers. One to many times had the deputy been forced to hear the screams of Hope County residents as they were burned alive and forced to smell the sickly-sweet smell of burning human flesh.

 

     Dutch had been trying to snap Padget out of her funk for a few days, doing everything he could think of that would make the young woman smile again. He had made her an ice cream sundae and even offered to let Padget’s animal companions into the bunker. Nothing had worked to get through to Padget unfortunately. Surprisingly even John and Jacob had been trying to bring the rookie deputy out of her funk. Dutch was very suspicious about the Seed’s motives, he had a feeling that the Seed’s were developing even more of an unhappy fixation on the rookie deputy, which would lead to nothing good. However, Padget was in such a sorry state that Dutch was still thankful that the brothers had tried. John calling out playful banter to Padget anytime she passed his door and Jacob telling her stories of his life up until Padget had met the man when ever she was in the med room getting her wounds looked at by Dutch. The old prepper made sure to check each of Padget’s wounds at least once a day to make sure they were healing correctly and not getting infected. Padget’s health physically was coming along nicely, but mentally she was still very lost.

 

     In the end, no real surprise to Dutch, it was a radio call for help that broke through Padget’s depression that was threatening to eat away at her soul. Feeling better physically, the rookie deputy had moved from the med room back to the repurposed stock room that she had turned into her own bedroom. Padget thought about how lucky she was that she had been able to get her possessions and bring them into Dutch’s bunker. The familiar comfort of her grandmothers quilt and her old teddy bear helping to hold the rookie deputy together the past few days. Padget had been laying in the living room area of Dutch’s bunker, wrapped in her grandmother’s quilt, cuddling with her bear, watching the fish swim around in their tank, when she heard a desperate crying coming from Dutch’s radio. Feeling a strange pull to the cry Padget pulled herself up and wandered into the radio room. Dutch had his back to the door and was trying to comfort the woman on the other end of the radio.

 

     “I know things seem bad right now, but everything is going to be okay.”

 

     “How can you say that Dutch? They took the only people holding Fall’s End together! We have all barricaded ourselves in the church and are running out of food!”

 

     Padget straightened up at that news. The idea of all the good people of Holland Valley being so scared and alone made the deputy realized that they needed help and it sounded like the normal people who would be on top of a situation such as this one, Pastor Jerome and Mary May, or even Nick, Grace, or Hudson, had been snatched by the cult and were not able to offer any help. That meant that Padget was the only one for the job.

 

     “Well, you still have the outposts that the Deputy freed up. Just go as a group to one of the farms.”

 

     “We can’t Dutch. What if they grab us all next and take us to the bunker?”

 

     Padget walked over and took the radio from Dutch. “It will be okay. The cult is not going to take anyone else.”

 

     “Deputy! Thank god its you! Please help us!” Cried the woman from Fall’s End.

 

     “Don’t worry I am on my way. I will take you to one of the farms and you will be safe.”

 

     “Thank you, deputy.”

 

     Padget turned to Dutch and hugged the older man tightly. “I am going to go get dressed and then I am going to go help the people of Hope County that still need me.”

 

     Dutch pulled Padget back and studied the young woman for a moment, before nodding his head. “You are healed enough that I think that is reasonable Kid, but don’t go facing Joseph with out letting me know okay?”

 

     Padget smiled at Dutch, “I promise old man,” she responded before darting out of the radio room back to her bedroom to throw on some proper clothes. Padget threw on some well-worn jeans and a Rye and Daughter tank top. Once she was dressed she decked herself out in her weapons again, sighing at the feeling of protection they provided. Once she was fully equipped with all her supplies and weapons once more Padget went to hurry out of the bunker only to be stopped by Dutch.

 

     “Before you go running off to save the world again kid, help me move the bastard in the med room into the other bedroom with his brother.”

 

     Padget grimaced but nodded her head. The rookie headed into John’s room to make sure that there was nothing that could be used a weapon and to make sure that John Seed was secured to his bed and had no chance of getting out of his bonds. The moving of Jacob into the room with John would be the perfect time for the brothers to try to get out of their bonds and go back to Joseph. That was the last thing the deputy could have happen.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     John looked up in surprise when the Deputy came into his room. The Baptist could instantly tell that something had happened to her. He had not seen her dressed in anything else than pajamas or the old prepper’s shirts the last few days. Also, the deputy’s eyes were more alert than they had been before. The fire that drew John to her like a moth to a flame was once again burning bright.

 

     “Deputy, to what do I own the honor of your visit?” John drawled out at Padget as she scanned the room and then walked over to John.

 

     “Your brother is being moved into here with you John.” The rookie simply responded as she tugged on the bonds keeping John attached to the bed.

 

     John raised his eyebrows in surprise. He would have figured that the deputy and old prepper would have kept his brother in a separate room from him. The resistance fighters were being so careful not to let any weapons close to either brother or anything that might could be turned into a weapon it was almost ridiculous. Even if there was a weapon nearby the brothers would have to free themselves and then fight past both the prepper, who never let his guard down and the deputy who had easily proven that she could and would take anyone down who threated her “family”. Not to mention John and Jacob had come to the agreement that they did not want to hurt the deputy when John had been visiting Jacob in the med room one day.

 

     When the old man acting as their jailor had been slightly distracted by checking on Padget and making sure the depressed deputy was not doing anything stupid during one of John’s visits with his eldest brother the two Seeds had come to the agreement that the deputy was meant to be by their side in New Eden and that Joseph must have seen this at the very start of the war that had been enveloping Hope County for the past several months. Joseph must have known that the deputy would beat the heralds yet spare their lives. John was a little confused as to why she had not spared Faith, but thought it had something to do with the drugs and maybe the deputy had not been able to incapacitate Faith as she had with the brothers. Jacob figured that Joseph had seen Faith dying and was not concerned as Faith was just a tool to the eldest brother. John was not super attached to the young woman, but he did not see Joseph as being able to dispense with human life so easily, he always wanted to try to save all the sinners. So, when there was someone that was devoted to the cause John very much doubted that Joseph could just throw that aside. Regardless of why Faith was killed, the brothers knew that their place was with the deputy by Joseph’s side. The brothers had been so caught up in discussing their future with the deputy, and Jacob was still too injured to be as on top of his game as he normally was, that the brothers completely missed Dutch coming back into the room. When the old prepper heard they were talking about the rookie he had snapped. He had cut John’s visit with his brother short that day and had not left the brothers alone together since then.

 

     John had figured that over protectiveness would have translated to keeping Jacob in a separate room once the eldest Seed was well enough to be moved out of the med room. He was pleasantly surprised to find that his brother would be next to him all the time now. John watched the deputy as she stalked out of the room. Now if only the deputy was laying in the room with both of the brothers and Joseph was here too then the old bunker would feel like paradise. John glanced around the barren room. Well with a few more luxuries it would be like paradise.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Jacob was lying with his eyes closed, but he was not asleep. Jacob was simply in a bit of a meditative state. There was not much else the man could do tied to the bed as he was. When he heard someone enter the room and start to rummage around Jacob still did not open his eyes although he did pay attention to where the sound was coming from so nothing could take him unaware. He could tell it was the old prepper, but when new footsteps started moving towards the med room Jacob was surprised. Jacob was even more shocked when the deputy’s voice reached his ears.

 

      “Come on Seed time to wake up. We gotta get you moved.” The deputy told Jacob as she walked over to him with a sawed-off cherry red/pink shot gun in her grasp. Jacob had pictures of the deputy running around the Whitetail Mountains with that shot gun in his office, or he did before the office got blown up. Jacob thought it was amusing that the deputy favored the bright gun just as he favored his bright red sniper rifle, pistol, and hunting knife, it was just another thing that proved the deputy was meant to be with him and his siblings.

 

     Jacob opened his eyes and looked the deputy up and down. He was surprised to find her dressed in her regular clothes again. Just from looking into her eyes Jacob could tell that the old feisty deputy was back, at least partially, and ready to face the world again. She still looked tired, but she also looked strong again.

 

      “Wasn’t asleep kitten.” Jacob told the deputy, ignoring the growling sound that came from the old prepper at Jacob’s nickname for the deputy. “Where are you moving me to?” He asked the deputy.

 

     Dutch came over at the point and blocked Jacob’s view of the deputy. “WE are moving you to John’s room for now.”

 

     Jacob is surprised at this news, but happy to be out of the room he had been stuck in by himself for the past few weeks.

 

     “No funny businesses Jacob,” the deputy warned the eldest Seed. “I will not hesitate to put a bullet in you if you make the wrong move and that would be a waste of all of Dutch hard work to patch you back up.”

 

     “No worries here kitten, not going to fight you.” Jacob told the deputy as he watched the old prepper start to cut his binds off. After a beat Jacob managed to lock eyes with the deputy again and gave her a smirk. “I know how good a shot you are, don’t wanna die today, plus I’m looking forward to seeing something besides these four walls.”

 

      The deputy simply kept her gun trained on the soldier while Dutch finished cutting him free and them tied his hands together behind his back. Once Jacob’s hands were tied together, a little tighter than Jacob thought was absolutely necessary, Dutch walked the soldier to the room they were keeping his brother in with a hand on his shoulder. It was very similar to how the deputy had walked Joseph to the helicopter on that night so long ago and made Jacob chuckle internally at how things had switched.

 

     John had told his brother all about the room he had been being kept in, but Jacob was surprised at just how barren the room truly was. The old man had managed to make the bunker feel very homely even from just the little bit of the bunker that Jacob had seen, however there was nothing homely about this new room. The walls were bare, and the only pieces of furniture were two sets of bunk beds and two bed pans.

 

     John was chained to the lower bed of the pair of bunks that was against the wall across from the door to the room. Jacob was pleased to see that John was attached by only one wrist and the wrist had been wrapped to keep it from becoming irritated by the bindings. John had been restrained by handcuffs to the bar at the edge of the head of the bed. This gave the Baptist enough room to sit up, lay down, and stand up comfortably, but it did not give him enough movement to be able to attack while still in the cuffs. Also, because he had been restrained by metal it would be very difficult to get out of the restraints without a tool of some kind. Jacob was led to the other set of bunk beds that was against the wall to the door’s left. Dutch turned Jacob around and made the eldest Seed sit down near the head of the bed. Once Jacob was sitting down, Dutch kneeled down beside the man and started to wrap his right wrist in bandages. Once that was done the deputy handed the old prepper a pair of handcuffs, which were secured around Jacob’s right wrist and then attached to the metal bar just like John’s.

 

      After Jacob was secured to the bed the two resistance fighters started to leave the room. The deputy turned and gazed around the room once more before nodding her head and leaving the brothers alone. Dutch stayed a beat or so after the deputy had left, watching her leave before he turned to look at the brothers.

 

     Glaring hard at each brother for a few second Dutch then said, “Don’t let me catch you talking about the kid again or I will gag you both.” Then the prepper left following behind the deputy.

 

     Jacob and John shared a long look. After a bit John broke the silence. “Think she is going to face Joseph?” He asked his eldest brother with a bit of worry in his voice. This time the worry was not just for his brother who would be dealing with the deputy, in fact since she had spared Jacob, John was less worried for his brother this time around knowing she would want to spare him too. John was now worried about the deputy. Both brothers knew that Joseph wanted her to join them in the New Eden, but she had done so much to threaten the project that their middle brother had worked so hard for they were afraid of what would happen to her in light of that.

 

     Jacob but his brother at ease with a shake of his head. The eldest knew that the old prepper would not let her go face Joseph just yet, she was still to injured and they had not yet formed a plan. If Jacob knew anything about the deputy it is that she would go into any fight with a plan if she could. Besides the two Seed brothers who were being kept in the bunker had learned from eavesdropping on the radio messages made to the old prepper and the deputy that Joseph had not called out the deputy directly, or really called out anyone. Instead the leader of the Project had simply taken people of the Resistance. Where the people had been taken and what was being done to them no one knew. The old man that was helping to lead the resistance was determined to wait until Joseph directly called the deputy to face him.

 

     “I think she is going out to help the resistance. I heard earlier today that they were having a hard time in the valley.” Jacob told John as he laid down on the bed. As much as Jacob did not want to admit it, the soldier was still not in tip top shape and the move from the med room to his new room with John had worn him out.

 

     John hummed in thought and stood up stretching out his back. After stretching out his muscles John settled back on the bed, his thoughts consumed by the deputy who had been such a thorn in the side of the Project. There was no doubt in John’s mind that she cared way too much for all the sinners that filled Hope County, but if helping the ungrateful sinners was the only thing that would bring the spark back into her eyes then John would accept that for now and try not to let his own envy and wrath get the better of him. He knew the deputy’s ultimate place was by his and his brothers’ side leading the flock into the New Eden.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     After Jacob had been moved into the room John was occupying in the bunker, the rookie deputy waisted no time sprinting off to Holland Valley to help the Resistance. Padget would cross into the Henbane and use the bridge closest to Dutch’s Island to get into the Valley. She had opted to go on foot as she had no idea how much of the valley the cult had taken back or what reinforcements she would come across. Once she crossed into the Henbane, Padget tried to call Sheriff Whitehorse and Tracy at the jail, when Padget got no answer Padget then called Dutch to ask if they had been taken by Joseph.

 

      “Dutch this is the Rookie Deputy, has the jail been compromised?” Padget held her breath as she waited for Dutch to respond.

 

      After a bit of silence Dutch responded with a sigh, “The jail has not been compromised and most of the Henbane resistance has moved to the jail since the cult snatched up people.” Padget frowned at Dutch response and then shut her eyes tight before asking him, “Was the Sheriff taken?”

 

      There was more silence before Dutch responded, “Yeah kid. He was taken after he went to try to find Tracy when she went missing after going out to scout that giant statue of Joseph’s.”

 

     Padget wanted to sob at the thought of Whitehorse being taken. He meant a lot to her, having been a guiding force for Padget since she got the job as rookie deputy here in Hope County. Whitehorse was the first person Padget had met of the county and had been so welcoming. He treated all the deputies as his children even though the man had never been married. Faith targeting Whitehorse had been one of the reasons Padget had not simply been able to restrain Faith. Padget was so frustrated and upset when Faith took Whitehorse, the rookie deputy had been so upset that Padget had lost control of herself when fighting Faith and had dealt the young woman more damage than she had realized, although she also had no opportunity to disarm the female herald.

 

     Padget pulled herself together and then called Sharky and Adelaide to ask them to check on the Resistance in the Henbane. The rookie deputy tried to look on the bright side of the events, she was glad that no one had been taken from the jail. The rookie did not think the people could take that blow that would come from the jail being compromised again. Once Sharky and Adelaide had confirmed that they would go and check on the people at the jail and then check all the other outposts (Adelaide had been at marina, so she knew that everything was fine there). Sharky also sent Peaches to Padget since the big cat had been hanging out with him at the trailer park. Although, according to Sharky Peaches had not been enjoying herself, although that did not surprise the rookie deputy because Peaches was not a fan of fire and Sharky was always setting something on fire.

 

     Padget went to the McLean Residence to wait for Peaches so the rookie deputy would not just be out in the open. She was relieved to see that the bodies of the people who used to live here had been taken care of, and by the looks of the three new wooden crossed they had been buried. She had made a point to radio the resistance about the two men and their dog who had been killed at the residence and left to decompose in the elements with crosses skewered through their backs when she had last been here. While she was waiting, the deputy checked their homes and bunkers again to make sure she had not missed anything of value, only feeling a slight hint of guilt at taking from the dead. She was still down in the bunker when she heard the familiar yowl of Peaches. With a grin on her face, the rookie bounded out of the bunker and was greeted by Peaches head butting her in the stomach. Padget let out a little laugh and loved on the cat for a moment before straightening up.

 

     “Alright Peaches let’s go help the people of Holland Valley.” Padget said to the cat. The two Resistance fighters hurried to the closest bridge and Padget was shocked when she got to the bridge that led from the Henbane region into the Valley and there was no roadblock.

 

     Padget crossed the bridge eyes alert with Peaches by her side, thinking about all the times Jess would warn the rookie deputy about what sitting ducks they would be on a bridge. The two managed to cross the bridge without issue and continued onwards towards Fall’s End keeping her ears and eyes peeled for civilians in danger and found…no one. This is not to say that the valley was a ghost town. She saw plenty of cultist wandering around gathering up supplies. However, the cult members were not taking supplies from the homes of people, but rather from the fields and farms that the cult owned themselves or the ones that the Resistance and the cult had agreed to share as long as everyone put effort into the farms. The cult was hard at work at the Gardenview Orchards picking fruit and packing it up in large crates sitting in trucks painted a mayonnaise color with the black cross on the side.

 

     Padget stayed hidden with Peaches and crept all the way to the Gardenview Packing Facility, she was pleased to see no civilians being attacked the whole way to the facility, and when she got to the facility there was no one tied up or locked in cages. Padget was also relieved that there were no fresh dead bodies from either side anywhere. Once shaky peace had been established between the Resistance and the cult in Holland Valley, both sides had taken care of their dead. All the bodies that had been strung up around Holland Valley had been taken down and all the civilian bodies had been recovered off the road. The Resistance members had either buried or burned their dead and had a mass memorial service in the church at Fall’s End. Padget would have figured that the cult would have started being hostile again and taking everything and everyone they could from the valley on the orders of Joseph. That did not seem to be the case so far at least.

 

     Seeing as how the cult was not breaking their promise at the Gardenview Orchards or Packing Facility, Padget continued on to Rae-Rae’s pumpkin farm. The rookie deputy had been just fast enough to get to the farm at the start off all the mess with the cult to save to whole family, the family had then left their house and gone to Fall’s End until the peace was established. They had been back at their farm for a few weeks and had even shared some of their crops with the cult. After the cult had stared taking people again Padget figured Rae-Rae would have taken her family back to Fall’s End. The rookie was shocked and very confused to find the house was not abandoned and she could see Rae-Rae’s son, Ryan working in the yard with another young man who was dressed in the typical cult wear. Padget stayed hidden and crept close to the pair. She was pleasantly surprised to hear the two talking in a friendly manner. They were discussing Boomer’s training and the size of the pumpkin harvest at first, it seemed that these boys had been friends before the mess with the cult. Padget smiled and stroked Peaches head as she listened to the boys, but she became worried when the conversation took a turn to discussing the project.

 

     “You should see about join us in John’s Gate! We have a lot more room there than your family has in your bunker.” The young peggie said with a pat on Rae-Rae’s son’s back. Padget stiffened at the peggies words and reached for her pistol, only to relax again at the son’s response.

 

     “Yeah Mom is thinking about it, the news is making her nervous and now that John is gone she feels better about the whole thing.” Padget raised her eyebrow but didn’t question the truth of the statement. Padget knew that if the project had simply not been so pushy…or had killed people in their baptisms…or turned people into Angels with the bliss…or ripped people's flesh from their bodies...then they probably would have gotten almost all the people of Hope County on their side, especially the preppers. Several of the people had joined up on their own despite the death and brainwashing. She thought back to Audrey and her family and old Abercrombie to name a few.

 

     Padget watch Ryan for a bit longer before deciding to keep going without revealing herself. She kept herself hidden from the cult as she moved along, even though she was eager to get to the people of Fall’s End she still checked on all the places that she knew sat between Rae-Rae’s and Fall’s End. Padget checked on what was happening at Howard’s Cabin. The Lincoln Lookout Tower, and the Strickland farm.

 

     Padget even stopped by the Dodd’s Residence to check up on Nadine Abercrombie. Who was fine and when Padget asked the other woman about any new trouble coming from the cult, Nadine gave the rookie deputy a very strange look and explained that there had been no incidents since peace had been established. The new information from Nadine confused Padget, as she knew the Resistance in Fall’s End was concerned and that Hudson, Mary May, Grace, Nick, and Pastor Jerome had all obviously been taken by the cult. The only conclusion that Padget could come to was that the whole cult had not been involved in the snatching of her friends. Padget knew that she would have to get to Fall’s End and ask the Resistance there to learn more.

 

     Padget continued on to Fall’s End still pausing on her journey here and there to watch what the peggies were doing and to listen to what they were saying. She didn’t know what she expected to hear, but it definitely was not people just talking about everyday thoughts and concerns. It certainly reminded Padget that the cult members were just people. Misguided kinda crazy people, but people none the less. They talked about their fears for what was going on in the country and what people had been saying on the news. Padget made a mental note to listen to the news soon, the last she had heard about was tension rising in the foreign affairs, but when was that not happening. The peggies also talked about the weather, how hunting was going, how the harvest was going, if the bunker was large enough for them all, how many supplies had gotten to the bunker, their children, and their hopes for the peace to last. Every time children were mentioned it tore at Padget’s heart. She tried not to think of all the children she may have made into orphans when she had been killing the members of the project.

 

     As Padget continued on towards Fall’s End she even saw some Resistance members scattered about. They were either gathering their own supplies, or tending to the land, but none of them were tied up, there were no Peggies standing over them, and no one looked forced to be working. Several of the Resistance members were at Saint Isidore School going through the school supplies from the school. They were joined by several peggie women who mostly seemed to be very pregnant. Padget felt like it was safe enough to stop lurking and stepped out into the open with Peaches by her side at the school calling to the resistance members. The resistance members greeted Padget and Peaches warmly and the rookie deputy happily joined them where they were working. She saw the Peggie women stiffen up at her presence and a few back away from Peaches, but when neither the rookie deputy or her faithful cougar made any type of move against them, the peggies relaxed a little.

 

     “What are you all doing out here? I figured you would all be at Fall’s End.” Padget remarked carefully to the Resistance members as she watched Peaches wander over to a patch of sun and lay down out of the corner of her eye. Padget didn’t pay much attention to what Peaches wad doing, Padget trusted the large cat to not attack when she had not been ordered to and Padget was more focused on watching both the faces of the Resistance and the Peggies to see what their reaction would be to her words. Both groups just looked confused. Finally, someone from the Resistance answered her.

 

     “There are no school supplies at Fall’s End deputy. We came down here from the Whitetail Mountains, the kids in the Pup’s Den need some new supplies. Since this is the only school in the county we came down here to get what we need.” Padget nodded at the Resistance member.

 

     It made sense that these Resistance members had come from the Whitetails, all the children that belonged to the Resistance had been moved to a bunker that was not far from the Wolf’s Den with their families at the start of the mess with the cult. The only family with young children that had not gone into the mountains to get protection from the cult had been the Ryes. It made a lot of since too that the Resistance from the Whitetail Mountains was not aware that people had been taken. The Whitetail militia did not talk to outsiders and kept to themselves. Padget didn’t know much about what the Whitetails were up to as they liked to keep to themselves, although Eli was more open than Tammy. Padget was no fan of Tammy’s having seen the torture methods that the woman applied to the peggies. Padget might not like the peggies, but she hated torture even more.

 

     “Well I wish you luck on your search.” Padget told the Resistance members with a smile, before turning to the peggie women.

 

     “You too. I hope you find what you will need for your collapse.” The rookie deputy told the women truthfully. The peggies looked surprised but nodded at the deputy all the same. Padget called Peaches from where the cat had been laying in the sun and turned to continue on to Fall’s End when one of the women called out to Padget.

 

     “Wait deputy.” Padget turned around to see a very young woman, who looked to be barely eighteen smiling at her shyly. “Thank you for putting a stop to the fighting. I was very worried about my husband and my brother.” She told the deputy softly.

 

     Her words made Padget freeze and have a hard time breathing. Her words were no different than that of a Resistance member who was worried for their loved ones. How it hurt the deputy to think of all the brothers and husbands she must have killed before the fighting could be stopped. Padget’s eyes started tearing up, but she blinked them back and cleared her throat to answer the young woman.

 

     “Of course, I hate that so much blood shed had to happen before we could establish peace. I am sorry for any loved ones or friends whose lives I may have ended.” Padget was surprised when the other peggie women smiled a sad smile at her and nodded their heads in thanks. Padget nodded back at them and then quickly walked away and continued on her journey to Fall’s End.

 

     Padget no longer tried to hide her presence as she continued on her journey and she was hailed warmly by all the Resistance members she came across and the Peggies for the most part were simply wary of her and of Peaches. Only a few were out right hostile, although once they saw the cougar walking beside the deputy they tried to hide their hostility. Padget understood where the hostile peggies were coming from and knew that several of the Resistance members who had lost family to the cult were still hostile to the peggies themselves. Padget knew that she had taken out many of the members of Eden’s Gate all by herself while trying not to think of the peggies as people. It tore at the rookie deputy to think of the lives she had taken from people who were just trying to do what they thought was best. Padget’s job as deputy was to protect all people and in Padget’s mind that included the peggies. The rookie deputy shook off the dark thoughts that had started to press down on her when she felt Peaches brush up against her leg. Padget smiled down at her faithful companion, stroked Peaches head, and continued on her way.

 

     Padget slowed down when she came to Red’s Farm Supplies. There was a small group of Resistance members at Red’s working alongside some of the peggies, this was a location the two groups had agreed to share. Padget went up to the Resistance to ask them if they knew anything about Fall’s End.

 

     “Did you all come from Fall’s End?” she inquired to the first resistance member she came up to. They shook their head at her.

 

     “We are a group from Green-Busch Fertilizer.” The fertilizer plant was completely under Resistance control because of the fact that the cult had been filling the fertilizer with bliss and making explosives. “We have not heard from Fall’s End for the past few days, they went dark for some reason. Since we didn’t hear any gun shots and peace still seemed stable we figured everything was okay.”

 

     Padget nodded at the resistance member and said, “Thank you.” Once Padget was able to get Peaches away from the Resistance members that were throwing her scraps the rookie continued on to Fall’s End with the giant cat. When she got to Fall’s End you would have thought the place was a ghost town. The whole time during the fight with the cult, Fall’s End had only been like this one other time and that was when John had called Padget out for their final showdown. Padget hurried to the church, memories from the last fight with John filling her head, only this time the church was very different. There was no red carpet, no dead birds, no closed door. Instead there was a barricade at the entrance to the church and two Resistance members with sniper rifles.

 

     The Resistance members guarding the entrance quickly spotted Padget and called out to the deputy. Padget hurried up the stairs and was greeted with frantic hugs from the Resistance members who had been trapped inside the church. She couldn’t make out what they were saying from the frantic tone of their voices and had to calm everyone down before she could figure out what had happened.

 

     Once everyone was calmed down Padget finally got the whole story about what had happened when Nick, Grace, Jerome, Mary May, and Hudson had been taken. Apparently, the Resistance leaders, Hudson, and Padget’s helpers, along with all the Resistance member that have been hiding out in the church for the past four to five days, had all been at the Spread-Eagle having drinks and cutting up when smoke bombs were thrown through the window. The smoke bomb were not regular smoke bombs however and had been filled with powdered bliss. Padget cringed at that news, having dealt with the powdered form of the drug several times. Also, supposedly powdered bliss was the strongest form of the bliss drug if the chemist’s note that the rookie had found in the brewery was true. The drug had knocked everyone out and when they woke up Padget’s close friends and colleague had been taken.

 

     “Okay why did you end up barricading yourselves in the church?” Padget asked in a puzzled tone. Since no one else had been hurt when the cult had taken her friends she was confused as to how the situation had escalated.

 

     “We didn’t want to get taken by the cult since they have reverted to their old ways.” One of the resistance members quietly told Padget. Padget frowned and shook her head at resistance member.

 

     “They are still following the peace agreement we settled between the members of John’s Gate and the Resistance in the Valley. Other than the attack where they took Hudson, Nick, and the rest there have been no attacks against the Resistance.” Padget sat down on one of the old mattresses. She put her head into her hands and tried to figure out just what was going on with the cult. It made no sense that they would break peace and then continue on as though they had not broken the agreement. Plus, why would they only take the ones they had nabbed and not grabbed the rest of the Resistance members, plus Fall’s End itself.

 

     Padget’s words had been news to the people of Fall’s End. They had figured the fighting was back full swing and that the cult was forcing people to be baptized and forced underground again. They were whispering among themselves while Padget tried to work out what this new information. Finally, deciding that it didn’t matter the young deputy shook her head and stood up.

 

     “I am not sure what is happening as peace still seems in effect, but even so I will take you the Kellett Cattle Farm.” Padget informed the Resistance members as she moved towards the door at the back of the church. The Kellett Cattle Farm was a resistance only location on the request of the family. It was also one of the only homes left outside of Fall's End that had running water (including hot water) and electricity. The Resistance members look relieved and fell into step behind the rookie deputy. Peaches took up guard duty at the back of the group, just like Padget had taught her.

 

      Padget figured that it would be fine to lead the members to the farm by means of the main road, but she didn’t want the skittish Resistance members to attack any cult members. Going the back way through the fields that sat between the farm and the town guaranteed that there would be little run in with the cult. That area had generally been quieter even when fighting in the valley had been at it’s worse. Padget is not a fan of fields, as they leave you open and exposed to attacks, but unlike the Henbane most of the Valley is fields, so there was no avoiding the wide-open spaces. Padget led the group of Resistance members out the back door of the church and through the old graveyard that sits in behind the church. Keeping to the under bush seemed to help the Resistance members feel better as they jumped at every little noise, including when some cows mooed.

 

    The way to the farm was quiet, they went across the small bridge not far from the church and then continued to the field where the Testy Festy had occurred. There were a couple of Resistance members there drinking some beers. When they saw Padget, Peaches, and the group of Resistance members from Fall’s End, the new people called out to Padget. The rookie deputy stopped and explained that she was walking the group of Resistance members that had been stationed at Fall’s End to the Kellett Cattle Farm because of some issues with holding the town. The new Resistance members became concerned and started to reach for their weapons, but Padget explained that there had been no violence and not to worry. The Resistance members trusted the rookie’s word and the group from Fall’s End continued on their way. There was little traffic on the main road that separated the fields from the farm and lucky for Padget there were no cult trucks. The group passed onto the farm property without issue.

 

     Once the Resistance members were safe with the family at the Kellett Cattle Farm, Padget stepped away to speak to Dutch. The rookie deputy knew that the old man was worried about her. She could have radioed the old man at the farm, but she wanted to ask how things were going with the Seed brothers and the last thing she needed the Resistance to know was that she had kept the Seeds alive. Kneeling down in the grass in the field behind the farm next to the old shell of one of the bliss silos that she had blown up Padget took out her radio and started to pet Peaches while she called Dutch.

 

     “Hey old man got the Resistance of Fall’s End taken care of.”

 

     “Kid! I was worried about you! How bad are things in the Valley?” Dutch’s voice was every so slightly frantic. It made Padget smile to know she had such a good man on her side. They might not have known each other before this whole mess, but she would not trade him in for anything. Out of all the friends the rookie deputy had made in Hope County, all of which Padget loved dearly, Dutch meant the most to her.

 

     “Things are fine here in the Valley Dutch. The peace agreement still stands.” Padget told Dutch as she turned on to her stomach and laid her head against Peaches back.

 

     “What? Then what happened with Mary May, Jerome and the others?” Dutch’s voice sounded just as confused as Padget had been when she received the news of what had happened to her friends. Padget recounted what she had been told and asked Dutch if he had any ideas on what this meant. Dutch was just as confused as the rookie deputy but told her to watch her back. Padget did not have to be told twice as the walk from Dutch’s bunker to Fall’s End and then to the Kellett’s farm had worn her out.

 

     “Don’t worry Dutch I am not going to be flying into a fight with any crazy cult leaders just yet…” Padget chewed on her lip for a second before she continued “How are things with everyone there?”

 

     Dutch just let out a chuckle and Padget could see him shaking his head in her minds eye. “Things are fine here kid. I fed Dumb and Dumber and they haven’t kicked up a fuss yet.”

 

      Padget just shook her head and rolled back onto her back again groaning in pain as her muscles pulled and some of her vertebrae popped. “Alright Dutch. Just don’t give them too much of a hard time okay. I’m going to stay top side and see if there is anything else I can do to help the Resistance members.”

 

     “You might want to go up into the mountains kid. You haven’t spent a lot of time up there and I have been getting some reports from Eli about the cult still kicking up a fuss.” Padget mentally groaned. She really was not a fan of the mountains and she had a feeling that the Peggies up there would not be willing to set up a peace agreement. The attitude of the militia would only make things worse. Padget also knew that Dutch was right. She knew there were people up there that needed her help, so she should go and help them because that is what she said she would do when she became a deputy. Protect the innocent and all that.

 

     “I have been hearing something about a guy needing help to find some kind of collectible from other resistance members for a while now.”  Padget reluctantly told Dutch. She had also been asked by Eli to check up on some guy at the old baseball field and she had heard about a girl who was trying to catch a big old fish in the lake. There was plenty to do up in those darn mountains.

 

     “Well get to it then kid…” Dutch was back to business for a moment, before his voice cut over the radio very softly. “But be careful will ya.” Padget smiled again.

 

     “Sure, thing Dutch. Talk to you soon.” Padget ended the radio call and buried her face in Peaches fur.

 

     “What do you think girl? Should we go up to mountains?” Padget asked Peaches softly. The cat gave out one of her little meow growls which made the rookie laugh softly.

 

     Padget laid in the sun with her cat, petting the good girl, for a while. Eventually the rookie deputy had to get up as the sun was going to start setting soon and she didn’t want to be walking in the mountains in the dark. With a long sigh Padget pushed herself up to standing and calling to Peaches to come with her the two headed off towards the Whitetail Mountains. Padget cut straight for the main road with Peaches by her side. Padget was trying to decided if she was going to drive to the mountains or walk. She was not a fan of driving, but it was a long walk to the mountains and then a lot of hiking once she got into the Whitetail Park.

 

      On her way to the main road Padget stopped by the Kay-Nine Kennels to see how the rebuild efforts were going there. She was pleased to see things seemed to be going well. All the cages except one were empty still after the killing spree the cult went on. No one was certain as to why the cult killed all the dogs, but thankfully Padget had thought to put a no killing dogs requirement in the peace agreement. Although she had heard several cult members show outrage on the behalf of the dog killing. Padget figured most of the cult members who were okay with the dog killing were from the Whitetail Mountains and were the Chosen. From everything Padget had seen the Chosen were ruthless and had little care for any life outside of the cult. She had seen them kill civilians that were not a threat. Padget was not sure if it was Jacob commanding the Chosen to do these activities or if Joseph was behind instant death for anyone the Chosen deemed unworthy, but the deaths of the chosen were some of the few deaths that Padget had caused that did not weigh on her mind. On of the best things she felt she had done for the Whitetails was destroying that Stone Ridge Chalet.

 

     When Padget had finally reached the main road, the sun was well on it’s way to setting. With a sigh Padget decided to drive to the Whitetail’s and see about talking to the other Fowler brother. He was supposedly at the cabin he and his brother shared not too far from the valley. Once she found out what he needed then Padget figured she could go check on Frank at his cabin, because the Whitetails had been badgering her to do that for a while now. Why they couldn’t send their own people out to do their errands the deputy would never know. It was one thing for the people of Holland Valley and the Henbane River to ask for her help. For the most part they were all civilians, but the Whitetail Militia were most likely better equipped to hand the cult than Padget herself. Especially now with Jacob gone.

 

     Not seeing any abandoned cars, vans, or trucks on the side of the road Padget made her way to Sunrise Threshing. The rookie deputy had left a large truck there in the garage when she had collected the supplies from the prepper stash located there. Sunrise Threshing was now a Resistance location and the members stationed there greeted Padget warmly. The rookie deputy nodded to the four members, got into the large truck with Peaches in the back and then hit the road.

 

     Padget nodded along to the music from the Resistance radio station as she drove on her way to the Whitetails. Padget did not love the music choices in each region and when she could would play her own music from her phone. There was no phone service out here in Hope County, but Padget had almost all of her favorite music downloaded on her phone and had no need for service to play it. Unfortunately, Padget had left her phone in Dutch’s bunker as she often did when going out into the field. She didn’t want the thing to get confiscated if the cult kidnapped her and she also didn’t want the thing to get destroyed if she got into a fight with the cult. Padget had been taking out her phone more since the Henbane had been completely cleared of the cult and the Resistance and the cult in Holland Valley had come to the peace agreement. She had just forgotten the darn thing at Dutch’s bunker when she left this morning, not to mention she didn’t think she would be doing much driving.

 

     Padget drove to the South Park Entrance of the Whitetail Mountains with no trouble and the roads were surprisingly Peggie free all the way to the Langford Falls Parking Lot. She parked the monster of a truck there and walked along the path to the cabin she had been told was the home to the Fowler brothers. The rookie deputy was very annoyed to find out he just wanted some stupid bobble heads and was tempted to let Peaches eat the man. The rookie had seen several of the darn things around Hope County and luckily knew off the top of her head where most of them were located. It would just be a pain to go around the county collecting the darn things. Once she had assured Dave Fowler that she would get right on top of locating the darn things, Padget was back off towards her truck.

 

     On the way back to her truck Padget made a small detour to the three bodies not far from Dave’s cabin that she had noticed on her way to the cabin. There were three male bodies strung up on mini crucifies. Surprisingly all the people Padget found strung up around the county were males. She had found dead females, but there were never displayed like the men. Padget sent Peaches back to the truck, so she wouldn’t try to snack on these bodies, and then gently as possible took down the bodies and then radioed the Whitetails about the bodies.

 

     “This is the Deputy. I am over by the Fowler cabin and have three casualties here.”

 

     “Deputy good to have you back here in the Whitetails. Have some jobs for you to do.” Eli answered back in his typical fashion. Padget pinched the bridge of her nose and held back a sigh.

 

     “I am about to go check on Frank at his cabin Eli. After I do that I can stop by the Wolfs Den in the morning.” Padget replied wincing slightly at the frustration that she could hear oozing out of her own voice.

 

     “Sounds good Dep see you then.” Eli responded before ending the radio call. Padget just looked at the radio for a second shaking her head. Eli was all about sticking together when it was live people, but once someone was dead that was the end for him. The deputy thought the dead deserved peace too. It was one of the reasons she had worked so hard to burry all the dead in the Valley and the Henbane. Padget hated the way bodies were being mutilated in Hope County and the mountains definitely had the most mutilated corpses although the Henbane had a great many much to Padget’s surprise, as Faith did not seem the kind to kill and display people.

 

      Padget started to look for a shovel when two Whitetails came up the trail carrying their own. They looked very solemn but gave Padget a small smile anyway and then set to work digging graves for the dead. Padget bowed her head respectfully to the Whitetails and then continued on her way back to her truck.

 

     Padget was not sure if she would be able to drive to Frank’s cabin, but she decided she would drive as far as she could. She ended up being able to drive the truck to the Whitetail Park Ranger Station that was located not far from Frank’s cabin. When she pulled up at the Ranger Station though there were two cult members and a judge stationed there. Padget didn’t see the members at first and was startled when an arrow hit the ground right in front of her. She whirled around from the direction the arrow had come from to find the two cult members and the judge about ten paces away. The judge started to run full speed at Padget and the rookie deputy had no choice but to empty a clip into the beast. Lucky a clip was all it took to stop the drugged-up wolf. Once that was no longer a threat she pointed her weapon at the Peggies.

 

     “I don’t want a fight. Walk away and I won’t shoot.” Padget tried to reason with men in front of her. The men said nothing and just loaded another arrow in their bows. Before the arrows could leave the bow, Peaches had already pounced on one of the men and Padget took the other out with a head shot. Once both of the men had been taken care of Padget let out a long sad sigh and shook her head. She had known in her heart that the Peggies here in the mountain would not be willing to listen to reason and this encounter just strengthened her suspicions. Shaking off the guilt of another, semi-needless death that was now on her hands, Padget continued on her way towards Frank’s cabin.

 

     It was a long up hill hike to Frank’s cabin and once she got there it was dark. Padget could not find Frank and his cabin was locked tight. Finally, she found a note, apparently a thief had gotten into his cabin and stolen some of his things. She shook her head when she read that he was going to track down the thief himself. Pulling out her flash light Padget followed the trail of dropped belongings until she came to a cave with a bear. She shot the bear once through the head with her 50.cal and then went to see if she could find Frank. She found him, but it was to late to do anything to save the man. Tired and read to get some sleep Padget took the key to the cabin that was laying beside the dead man, radioed the militia to update them on Frank and his cabin and then trekked back the short walk from the cave to the cabin. Padget trusted that some of the Whitetail’s would come to bury Frank. Padget was very thankful that it was easy to get into the cabin with the key and that there was a sofa waiting for her right inside the door. Padget called Peaches into the cabin and then locked the door from the inside. Once the area was secured Padget laid down on the sofa with Peaches laying down on the floor in front of the door and the two fell asleep.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget did not sleep well, but she at least felt a little less weary come morning. Once she had brushed her teeth in the one sink in the cabin and seen to her business in the bushes, Padget was ready to get back to work. When she had let the Whitetails know about Frank last night they had asked her to pack up his supplies and bring them to the Wolf’s Den. Padget searched the cabin, but unfortunately there was no pack anywhere to be found. She did however find a large trunk and she decided to use that to take the supplies. She quickly packed up anything that could be of value, between supplies to make homemade dynamite, to med kits, to ammo and weapons. Once the trunk was packed she grabbed one end and started dragging the trunk towards her truck. Peaches ran around her as she slowly made her way down the mountain.

 

     Padget had gotten about two hundred meters from the cabin when she came across an abandoned quad bike. The bike had straps that she could use to strap down the trunk and make her trip to her truck easier. After a bit of a struggle where she tried not to aggravate her injuries that were still delicate from her fight with Jacob, Padget eventually got the trunk on the bike and secured. Deciding that it would be easier to just drive the quad bike to the Wolf’s Den she sent Peaches ahead of her and then started her own way down the mountain.

 

The drive to the Wolf’s Den was uneventful except for Padget almost wrecking the quad multiple times. She really hates quad bikes, every time she used one it always ended badly. When she got to the Wolf’s Den there was a long list of locations they wanted her to secure and people that needed her help. They thanked her for the supplies then sent her on her way with their list. Padget held back from growling at Eli and just took her list and went back outside into the fresh air. She was curious as to where Wheaty was as she had not seen him at his usual table, but she was so frustrated with the way the Whitetail's treated her like a weapon she did not stick around to find out where the boy was hiding. Once she was outside again she was greeted by a crouched and growling Peaches. Padget crawled up to be right beside her cougar and saw the object if Peaches ire. There were a few cultists a little way down from the Wolf’s Den. Even if Jacob was gone, these cultists were a little too close to the Wolf’s Den for her taste. Padget sent Peaches away and then circled around and came up on the peggies from the side that was not towards the Wolf’s Den. Padget’s plan was to get the peggies attention, lead the peggies away from the Wolf’s Den, and then lose the peggies. Padget was tired of all the killing and this was an easy way to prevent more blood from being on her hands. She stepped out into the Peggies field of vision, not looking directly at them, instead pretending like she was hunting, and waited for them to notice her. After a few minutes the cultists still had not seen Padget and she was getting frustrated. Finally, she took the silencer off her 50.cal and took a shot at a skunk that was pottering along nearby. The shot did what she was hoping and pulled the peggies attention to her.

 

     “Set and match.” Padget whispered under her breath as she turned to look at the cultists with a feigned look of surprise on her face. Once she had locked eye with one of the cultists she took off with no hesitation towards the east. Padget heard the cultist yell after her and start to follow her with no hesitation. Padget winced as an arrow hit her shoulder and the rookie then started zig-zagging to try to avoid the arrows. When Padget came to a cliff face she quickly turned towards the north and started running that way. Eventually after avoiding several large drops and making several sudden turns to avoid getting hit by another arrow Padget came to Copper Cabin. Breathing a sigh of relief, Padget had enough time to climb some crates piled up at the back of the house and vault through the bathroom window. Once she was inside Padget took out her pistol and hurried into a windowless store room across from the bathroom. Padget hunkered down in the corner farthest from the door and tried to slow her breathing as she listened intently for the peggies to reach the cabin. Soon enough Padget heard foot steps outside the cabin and then the voices of the peggies reached her ears.

 

     “Where did the sinner go, I wanted to teach her a lesson for taking our herald.” One of the hunters growled out. Padget frowned in concern and wondered if Joseph was calling for her head on a spike now that she had “killed” his brothers. Padget was so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed the other peggies response to the first.

 

     “That is a bad idea brother. You know the Father had ordered that she not be injured but to be brought before him whole.” Padget relaxed at the other peggies words. So, Joseph still had his weird obsession with her, good to know. The first peggies simply sighed at his companions words and then Padget heard footsteps on the porch.

 

     “What are you doing?” One of the peggies asked the other. “I am going to search the house for the sinner. What else?” responded the first peggie from inside the cabin and Padget held her breath.

 

     “No come on, there is no way the Deputy would have hidden.” The second peggie responded. The first peggie sighed again and Padget heard him walk back out onto the porch. “You are probably right. We should tell the Father she is back in the mountains though.” That was the last thing Padget heard. The rookie deputy waited a bit before allowing herself to relax. Padget did not leave her hiding spot, but simply settled into a more relaxed position leaning against the wall. The deputy decided she would stay hidden in the store room for a while and then she would head towards some of the people on the list in her pocket and get everything done for Eli that he needed. Padget pulled out her list and then her map of hope county and started planning out the rest of her day.

 

     Padget had no idea how long she had been in the supply room when she had finally figured out all her plans for the day and she stood up stretching out all her muscles. Padget checked the supply room and found a few good things including a safe with some good cash, but otherwise nothing much. Once she had packed up her finds from the cabin, Padget shouldered her pack and checked out the rest of the cabin. Padget had been to this cabin before when she had been collecting the supplies for the Whitetails under the command of Wheaty, but Padget had not been able to explore the cabin as the Whitetail supplies had been in the cabins cellar. Padget shed a few tears for the two bodies that were in the cabin, although compared to the man that had been strung up outside the cabin down by the waters edge these men had gotten the better end of the ordeal, and then she found a baseball card in the bedroom of the cabin. With a shrug Padget grabbed the card and shoved into her pack on the off chance that it might come in handy. With a final look around Padget then headed out the front door. Pulling out her map and her compass the rookie deputy figured out where she was and started to head towards the Oberlin Picnic Area.

 

     After about a six hundred meter walk Padget got to her destination and found George who wanted help…finding his baseball cards. Padget barley held back a groan, she hated being an errand girl. After promising George she would get right on finding his baseball cards she headed off to talk to a man named Bo Adams. Another long walk, this time a one thousand one hundred meter walk, and at the end of the walk Padget found another person who wanted help finding something. Sigh. This time she needed to gather old bones at the bottom of a lake and eagle feathers from the top of a mountain. Not eager to go looking for either of the things Padget had been tasked with look for, the rookie deputy started to head in the direction of yet another person on her long list of stops on her list, a girl named Skylar.

 

     Once Padget checked her map and realized she had a huge long walk in front of her again, the rookie deputy called one of her guns for hire friends, Renee Wolfe. Renee was great at not flying off the handle and not attacking unless necessary. Padget met Renee on a path just above Bo’s cabin. Padget explained what they were up to and then the two girls headed off towards Dylan’s Bait Shop. Renee had brought two wing suits and Padget was happy and excited to “fly” some of the way towards their destination rather than walking. Padget and Renee got to the edge of a large drop off not far from Bo’s cave, put on their wing suits and then jumped off the edge. Padget had used a wing suit several time before and enjoyed the device well enough, but the rookie deputy did have a tendency to almost crash into trees.

 

     The two women got about a third of the way towards their destination before they stopped near the Wolf’s Den to help out a citizen that was injured on the side of the road. Once the citizen had been helped, Padget and Renee climbed to the top of the mountain that the Wolf’s Den was hidden inside. The two girls got another third of the way towards their destination before they had to stop again to help a citizen. This time the citizen was simply lost, Renee pointed the citizen towards the Elk Jaw lodge, which was the closest set up of Resistance fighters outside of the Wolf’s Den, which everyone was not giving out the location of, because even though Jacob was “dead” the cultists were still around and would love to get their hands on the Resistance base and Eli. Once the Citizen was on the way towards the resistance base at the Elk Jaw Lodge Padget and Renee climbed up a small mountain and jumped off again. This time the girls got only about four hundred meters away from the bait shop. Unfortunately, there was a gun fight where they touched down. After dealing with the two Judges and the two peggies Renee and Padget stripped off their wing suits and hurried off towards to Bait Shop.

 

     At the bait shop Renee and Padget helped Skylar get her fishing rod back and then the three girls went fishing. Padget really liked Skylar was eager to help the girl out. Skylar was not one to ask for help, but Padget pulled out of the girl what she was looking for. With a grin at the fisherman, Padget hurried off to the Clagett Boat house with Renee. The two girls fished for a while as the sun went down, but Padget eventually caught the Admiral and reeled him in successfully. Padget radioed Skylar to meet her at the boat house. When Renee and Padget pulled up to the dock Padget gleefully presented Skylar with the large fish.

 

     “Holy Hell! You caught him!” Skylar exclaimed.

 

     Padget smiled at her new friend and handed the Admiral to her. “Yup and now you can leave and go somewhere safe.” Padget informed the girl. Skylar shook her head at the rookie deputy. “Thank you. I can’t believe we are going to be able to leave the nightmare that is this county.”

 

      Skylar hugged Padget tight. “Thank you again.” Skylar whispered the rookie deputy. With a tight grip on the Admiral Skylar took off towards Dylan’s Bait Shop.

 

     Renee and Padget shared a smile and then stood in silence looking out over the water for a moment before Rene broke the silence. “We need to find a place for the night.”

 

     Padget grunted in agreement and tried to think about where they could go. Padget was not eager to hike back up to the Wolf’s Den and sleeping out in the open was much to dangerous for the highly wanted by the cult rookie deputy. Renee suggested that they take the boat to the Elk Jaw Lodge. Seeing as that was the closest Resistance strong hold and it did have real beds, Padget agreed. The two women pulled up to the Elk Jaw Lodge and were welcomed warmly. Padget was worried there would be someone there who needed her to do something for them, but thankfully no one needed any help and they were happy to let the two women use the beds upstairs. The two women quickly headed up to the room with the beds and climbed into the beds. The only time Padget slept in comfortable clothes was when she was in Dutch’s bunker. This was for multiple reasons, Padget did not carry a change of clothes with her because there was no room in her pack and all her things were in Dutch’s bunker. The other main reason was that Padget wanted to be ready to fight in a moments notice and that would not be possible if she disrobed in anyway. It was just easier to sleep in her clothes, even if a bit uncomfortable. It was hard to fall asleep with the smell of feces, dead wolves, and bliss that filled the lodge, but the girls eventually managed to pass out.

 

     Too soon the women were being woken up by the sun streaming in the window. With a groan the Padget and Renee pulled themselves out of bed and grabbed their packs off the floor beside the door where they had carelessly dropped them last night. The Whitetails had a breakfast downstairs and while Renee and Padget were eating they checked out the map and talked about what else they needed to do today. There were several prepper stashes that Padget had been asked to check, Eli wanted the Lansdowne Airstrip, Devils Drop, Whitetail Ranger Station, and KO Radar Station secured for the Whitetails. The two women decided to work their way through the mountains while keeping in mind the best places that would be available for them to stay in every night. Padget did have a habit of working through the night, but since she was still healing from the fight with Jacob, she wanted to take things easy for a while.

 

     Padget and Renee quickly finished breakfast and then started out on their way to get some stuff done. The two girls decided the first prepper stash they would go for would be Dansky’s Cabin. It was a bit of a pain to get to, but it was the easiest job on the map and for Padget the jobs that involved the least amount of killing were the best jobs. Padget and Renee set off at an easy pace after deciding that going on foot would be the best option. The walk was relatively peaceful. The two Resistance fighters saw several groups of peggies, but the girls managed to hide from the peggies and none of the peggies had hostages or were attacking Resistance members, so it was easy to skirt around the cult members. Danksy’s Cabin was empty when the two women got to it, Rook had stopped by the cabin once before when she had been around collecting records for Wheaty, Danskey had been out looking for big foot when she stopped by and it appeared that he was still out doing that. After a moment of searching for a way into the cabin and finding no possible entry points other than the digitally locked door, Renee and Padget heard a blood curdling scream coming from in and up the nearby mountain. Not even stopping to think about what had caused the scream, Padget and Renee took off. As they were running in the direction the scream had come from a terrifying roar shook the ground and made Renee freeze up. Padget however kept going as fast as she could although having to use her grappling hook and still being injured made it hard for the rookie deputy to go really fast. Padget kept cursing her injuries as she pulled herself up the mountain and jumped from ledge to ledge. Finally, the rookie deputy saw Dankey lying in a pool of his own blood on a ledge. It looked like some kind of animal had gotten to the man.

 

     With a sad sigh at the loss of another life Padget grabbed the mans pack and key to his cabin. Padget did not want to just leave the man on the side of the mountain to be eaten by wild life, but she was not sure what else she could do for the man. Padget was not strong enough yet to propel both his corpse and herself back down the mountain. Luck for Padget she heard voices calling out to see if anyone needed help from a couple of ledges above her and Daskey. Padget called back out to the Whitetails and they quickly grabbled their way down to her. Once the two Whitetails were on the ledge, Padget explained what had happened and her dilemma. The Whitetails were quick to offer their help and said that they would take care of Danskey’s corpse. With that burden lifted off her shoulders, Padget propelled herself back down the mountain and then she hurried as quickly as possible to Renee’s side. Padget told Renee what had happened as they went to Danskey’s cabin together. The two women packed up everything of value and then decided to head back to the Wolf’s Den, so they could drop off the supplies before going to do anything else. Carrying around a whole bunch of supplies would not only slow the two fighters down but would also paint a huge target on their backs.

 

     The trip to the Wolf’s Den was fairly quick and Padget made sure to pass the supplies off to one of the Whitetail’s that worked with the supplies for the Den and to avoid Eli. As much as she liked Eli, after all she fought Jacob to save his life, he was still a bit to demanding for Padget’s taste. Padget was also a little resentful of the fact that Eli never fought his own battles and always wanted someone else to do that for him. Once the supplies had been dropped off Renee and Padget decided that the next best course of action was to take back the Ranger Station. They supposedly had hostages there and for Padget saving hostages was always priority number one. On the trip to the Ranger Station, Padget revealed to Renee that she was sick of taking the lives of people and that she wanted to do as much as possible to stop all the killings that were going on in Hope County. Renee was surprisingly supportive. The gun for hire revealed that she hated all of the killing as well, it was only natural to hate it as most of the people on the side of the Resistance were not fighters of any kind, they were simply civilians that wanted to keep their homes, lands, familys, and possessions safe. Renee told Padget that many people had been thankful and thrilled when the peace treaty in Holland Valley had been created. The cult and the resistance living side by side was fine for (most) of the people of the Resistance. Most of the people of the Resistance laid the blame for the cults actions at the feet of the heralds and the “Father” not on just everyday peggies. Renee even knew one family that had gotten close with a peggie family recently and the peggie family had revealed that they hated all the death and just wanted everyone to get along. Padget was slightly surprised at all this information, but then she thought about what she had heard the peggies saying in John’s bunker that day she had been captured by John and had to fight her way out of the bunker. The peggies had been saying the civilian being kept there were not their prisoners and needed to simply be protected from the collapse. Padget had figured out that most of the peggies all felt that way, the believed in the “Father” and what he said, and they only wanted to save as many people as possible. If only Padget could talk some sense into Joseph, then maybe together Joseph and the rookie deputy could get the heralds to stop their destructive ways. If the Father and his heralds could come to an agreement with the Resistance, then Padget would be happy to let the heralds go and to allow the cult to continue prepping their huge ass bunkers.

 

     Padget was pulled out of her thoughts by the sight of the Ranger Station. Going into a crouch Padget motioned for Renee to go in one direction and Padget went in another. The plan was to circle the Ranger Station and check out how many people there were guarding the outpost, find out if there were any hostage and if so where they were being held, and find the best way to take the outpost back. When the two women met back up they had found all the people guarding the outpost (they thought anyway), discovered there were no hostages, and seen the worst weapon that would cause the most trouble (the mortar). Using this information Renee and Padget quickly and silently moved through the outpost taking down peggies as they came across them until the outpost was now under resistance control. Padget radioed the Resistance to ask for members to come and guard the outpost, then Padget radioed the Fang Center so that Wayne would send Peaches to her, and then Padget and Renee started raiding the weapons cash that was locked up at the outpost. Once the Whitetail members showed up Padget and Renee left to go do some more of the things on the list from Eli. As the girls were leaving Peaches showed up. So the two girls and Peaches continued working their way through the mountains. Unless there was a civilian in danger or something that Eli or one of the other Resistance members needed was being guarded the small group avoided confrontation with the Peggies. If the peggies were guarding something Padget needed to collect the group would, whenever possible, simply knock out the peggies, take what they were after, and then leave.

 

     Padget, Renee, and Peaches worked the rest of the day on collecting everything that the Resistance was asking for, although they were only about half way done by the time the the sun set. They girls and Peaches spent the night in an empty bunker they had found and then started again on their tasks the next morning. Finally just as the sun was starting to set again the small group had finished everything that was on Padget's list. Once all the missions had been finished Padget sent Renee off to go rest while the rookie took the things the group had collected to all the people who had been asking. When everything was done Padget rode a quad to the Elliot Residence. Since she had helped the man defend his home against the peggies Padget had been making frequent stops to make sure that everything was still okay. The man and his family lived in the bunker full time now since their home looked like a war zone. Once Padget got conformation that the family was still doing fine, the rookie deputy continued on the Fang Center. Padget could barely keep her eyes open, but she did not want to sleep somewhere that Peaches would not be welcome. The Fang Center had plenty of room for both her and Peaches to crash. Padget got to the Fang Center and was welcomed with open arms. Apparently, the Fowler Brother who had wanted all the Cheeseburger bobbleheads had let the other brother who was still at the Fang Center know that Padget had helped him out. To show how grateful he was that Padget had helped his brother out there was a bed waiting for Padget and Peaches along with what could be considered feast for both of them. For Padget there was fresh grilled fish, some canned peaches, and canned green beans. For Peaches there were several fresh prong horn carcasses. Peaches and Padget ate well and them curled up together in one of the pens where they easily fell into a deep sleep.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Padget was awoken by the sound of her radio going off, she checked the time and saw that she had been asleep for almost twelve hours.

 

     “Kid? Are you there, kid?” It was Dutch trying to get in touch with her, Padget snatched up her radio and answered the old prepper.

 

     “Yeah Dutch, I’m here.” Padget covered a yawn and stroked Peaches head as she waited to hear what Dutch needed. The big cougar yowled softly in protest at being woken up before dozing off once more.

 

     “Head from the people you helped yesterday, they were all singing your praises.” Dutch spoke softly over the radio.  Padget hummed in response, she didn’t help the people of Hope County out because she wanted their praises (and more often than not she didn’t think they even noticed her, more likely to comment on her animal companions than her). Padget helped to people of Hope County because they were innocent, well most of them, Padget grimaced as she remembered the psycho that ran that Haunted House of the edge of Faith’s territory, and none of the innocent people of the country had asked to be over-run by a cult.

 

     “There have been a few more calls for help around the mountain, a few bunkers that have people holed up inside. Think you can help them out kid?” Padget sighed softly, for as much as she wanted to help the people of the county it seemed that the people could do nothing with the rookie’s help, and she was tired of all the seemingly frivolous calls for “help,” such as the call asking for help finding the aging whisky. Padget pushed herself up and stretched before she answered the older man.

 

     “Of course I can Dutch. I am right on it. Do you have any coordinates for me?” Padget started to strap all her weapons back on as she listened to locations of all the people asking for help. The calls for help were spread all over the darn mountains and it would certainly take all day to answer all the calls, if not several days.

 

     “I will get right on these Dutch. Talk soon.” Padget signed off with the prepper, called Peaches to her side, left the pen she had spent the night in, said goodbye to the Fowler brother, and then set off into the mountain to help those in need.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget ran around the Whitetail mountains for two days answering all the calls of distress from people in bunkers hidden all around. Every time the rookie deputy came across another bunker she asked herself how all these people had built bunkers in a national park when there were rules and laws about people living and/or owning parts of any land in a national park. After helping each person at their bunker, weather that meant bringing supplies to a family, helping them out of the bunker that they had become trapped in when they locked themselves in to protect themselves from the cult, or fixing a problem with a bunker so that families who had lost their house to the cult could have a safe place to live until they could rebuild, Padget would call in to Dutch to check up on him and see if there was any new information for her.

 

     However when she finished the last bunker on her list Padget did not call in to Dutch to let him know. She had been working hard for two days and wanted some time for herself and she was going use that me time for a hike and a swim.

 

     Padget climbed up one of the mountains to the Rattlesnake Bridge and then the rest of the way up to an amazing natural pound that sat at the top of the mountain. There were a few fish in the pond and there were very few people. Padget loved to come up here and simply fish and even more to swim. Padget loves water. She was always happy to swim in the Henbane, Silver Lake, Cedar Lake, or any of the other numerous bodies of water that covered Hope County. Water always calmed Padget down and made her feel at peace. Padget had found this place when she had been following a lead about a crashed plane with a large weapon cash. The lead had panned out and the Resistance had gotten a good set of weapons, ammo, first-aid kits, and supplies for making explosives; while Padget got a good supply of cash.

 

     Tonight the rookie deputy fished for a while before she stripped off all her clothes and went for a swim in the water. It was starting to approach night, the sun creating a beautiful sunset. Padget floated in the water while Peaches laid down on the bank by the natural pond. There was a tent not far from where Peaches was laying down that Padget had decided she would spend the night. Not many people came up here and there was nothing up here that the cult would be interested in anymore, so she should be safe. Padget swam around the pond a bit more, even playfully splashing Peaches a bit, much to the large cats unhappiness, and then when the sun had completely gone down and the only light anywhere near the pond was from the fire Padget had created as soon as she got to the mountain and the full moon, she got out to cook her dinner.

 

     Padget was going to eat one of the fish she had just caught before swimming, since she had gotten caught up in this fight against the Project at Eden Gate the rookie deputy had been living mostly off her fishing and hunting skills (which had noticeably improved the longer she had been having to feed herself). Padget swiftly and expertly filleted the fish she was going to eat and starting the cooking process over the fire. At the smell of the cooking meat Peaches let out a yowl, letting Padget know she was hungry. Padget fished out the bag of meat she kept with her when Peaches was traveling with her and threw Peaches a leg of deer meat. Once the fish was ready and Padget had eaten, the rookie deputy put out her fire, made sure to take the remnants of both Peaches and her own dinner a good distance away from the tent, that way if any wild animals were attracted to the bits of bone they would not attack the tent, bundled up in the blankets she had found in the tent and then curled up in the tent for a good nights sleep under the stars. Peaches, wanting to make sure her human was safe, laid down at the entrance to the tent. There would be no way that anything, be it animal or human could attack Padget without going through Peaches, so the likelihood of something attacking the rookie deputy was very slim. With that thought in mind Padget drifted off into a pleasant sleep.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     It had not been long at all that the rookie deputy had been asleep when she was awoken by her radio. The sun was just starting to peak up over the horizon and Padget had been sleeping so well she was sad to have to wake up just yet, but it was Dutch on the radio and it sounded urgent.

 

     “Kid, are you there?” Padget scrambled out of the tent, just avoiding hitting Peaches to grab her radio from where she had left it last night when she took it off for her swim.

 

     “I am here Dutch, what up people need more help finding things around the county or fixing up their bunkers?” Padget asked with a yawn as she flopped down beside Peaches and snuggled into the large cats back. It was still pretty chilly outside.

 

     “No kid…It’s time. Joseph has called you out.” Dutch’s words were like a cold ice bath and a shot of expresso all at once.

 

     “He wants to meet you at his church on his island this afternoon kid.” Dutch told her very solemnly, “I don’t know what he wants from you or what he has done with the people he has taken, but I don’t like the idea of you going out there, it stinks of a trap.”

 

     Padget was to stunned to respond for a moment, the rookie deputy’s mind was racing a mile a minute thinking about all the friends she had made in the county and what could be happening to them. Padget was also thinking about how she could prepare to face the cult leader that was the cause of all the horrible things that Padget had been forced to face, but Peaches brought Padget out of her spiraling mental state with a lick to Padget’s face. Padget smiled softly at the cougar and stroked Peaches head as she finally answered Dutch.

 

     “Well it probably is a trap, but we don’t have much of a choice. The lives of everyone he has taken could be on the line. I have to go face him today.” Padget told the old prepper who had become like family to her.

 

     “Alright then kid,” Dutch agreed with a sigh. “Hurry to the bunker so we can plan for your meeting with him this afternoon, I will get in touch with some of the others who can help you…”

 

     Padget interrupted Dutch, “No Dutch, no planning and no other people, this is my fight and I need to do it alone.”

 

     Dutch sputtered on the other end of the radio for a bit, “Kid! No! This is the leader of the whole operation, you don’t know what he is capable of.”

 

     Padget interrupted again, “I do know what he is capable of Dutch.” This time she was interrupted by the prepper. “Then you should know that it is a bad idea to face him alone!”

 

     There were a couple of beats of silence before Padget answered Dutch, “I can’t risk anyone else, I won’t.” There was silence from Dutch, before he responded, “Okay Kid. Just be careful will you… I want you back in one piece.”

 

     Padget smiled fondly down at the radio even though Dutch couldn’t see the smile. “Will do Dutch. Over and out.”

 

     Padget then turned to Peaches “You need to head to the Fang Center girl.” Peaches let out a yowl of protest, but Padget just raised her eyebrow until Peaches finally stood up and started to race down the mountain in the direction of the Fang Center. With a sigh Padget got fully clothed, grabbed her pack and all her weapons, and then walked to the edge of the mountain.

 

     Padget stood at the edge overlooking Hope County for a while and taking in all it’s natural beauty before sighing once more, hiking her pack higher up on her back, and starting down the mountain. It was time to face the devil.


	7. It's the End of the World as They Know It and Only Joseph Feels Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padget faces Joseph and the fall out of that showdown.

   It didn’t take all that long for Padget to make her way down the mountain. She could have made it faster if she had used her wingsuit, but she wanted to use the walk down the mountain to collect her thoughts and make a plan for when she would face Joseph. Once she was at the base of the mountain Padget picked her way over to the Grand View Hotel. The hotel had been abandoned by the Peggies after she had taken it back from them when rescuing that Whitetail that she thought was named Briggs.

 

     There was a truck parked in the parking lot of the Hotel with the keys still in it, so Padget decided to drive to the Elk Jaw Lodge and then get a boat from there to Joseph’s Island. The drive to the lodge was pretty peaceful, which surprised Padget a little, sure the Peggie influence in the mountains had been reduced with the “death” of Jacob, but these were the soldiers of the project and the rookie deputy knew that they would not give up without a fight.

 

     Padget did not even try to strike a bargain with the peggies of the Whitetails, choosing instead to leave the Peggies alone whenever possible and advising the Whitetails to do the same. Unless the peggies had a civilian or whitetail Padget left them alone when she came across them and she left the Peggie bunker alone. The rookie deputy still had the feeling that something big was coming and even thought the Whitetails were well prepared, Padget wanted as many people to live as possible if the “end of the world” did happen, even the peggies, so the peggie bunker in the mountains was off limits.

 

     The peggies had seemed to realize that the rookie deputy was going to take it easy on them and they could still be found throughout the mountains generally in groups of one with a judge wolf or two hunters. They were often found a little too close to Whitetail posts to make Padget happy and if nothing else whenever Padget had driven through the mountains before she had spied several groups in the bushed near the road. So when the rookie deputy saw no sign of any Peggies on her drive, Padget had to wonder if they were perhaps at Joseph’s compound waiting for her to come face their “fathers”.

 

     Padget would not put it past Joseph to have called the peggies of the mountains as he knew they were the strongest. Padget sighed as she thought about the different ways things could go down when she got to the compound. Padget was not sure what she was going to do when she got the compound as she had no idea what awaited her there. Padget was determined to be prepared for the worst. Which meant she had mentally prepared herself to see all her friends dead bodies.

 

     All too soon the drive was over, and she was pulling into the lodge. Padget was greeted immediately by the Whitetails that were stationed at the outpost. They had heard and seen Joseph’s call for the deputy to come face him and were concerned. Everyone started talking at once until the leader of the group at the lodge whistled loudly to get everyone to stop talking. Once everyone was silent he then addressed the deputy.

 

     “I am assuming you heard the message from Joseph?” Asked the man, Bill she thought his name was. Padget had not in fact heard the direct message from Joseph, but Dutch has said that Joseph was calling for her to meet him at his compound where the war had first been kicked off with the failed arrest all those months ago, so Padget nodded to the Whitetail leader.

 

     “Well then what’s the plan deputy?” The man asked. Padget blinked at the Whitetails gathered around her and realized they expected her to take them into the fight with her. Padget refused to risk any more innocent lives so neither these Whitetails or anyone else would be coming with her to face Joseph. She knew that this was probably not the best laid plan, but as far as Padget was concerned her first job was to protect as many innocent people of Hope County as possible. If that meant sacrificing herself to Joseph then so be it.

 

      “I am going to make sure I have all the gear I need and then I am going to grab on of the boats here and take it to the compound.” Padget told the Whitetails as she pushed past them to start collecting new gear, such as some of those black market armor piercing bullets and new freshly sharpened throwing knives.

 

       The Whitetails started to loudly protest against Padget’s plan. Telling her that it was stupid for her to go in alone and that there was safety in numbers. Their voices keep getting louder and their words feel like knives to the gut until Padget could not take anymore.

 

     “QUIET!” The rookie yelled at the Whitetails, her back still to them. Instant silence fell on the group there at the lodge. Padget took a deep breath and then turned to the Whitetails trying to hold back tears. “I can not loose any more good people. This is my fight.” Padget searched the faces of all the Whitetails. She could see that they understood but were not happy about her decision. Padget loved the people of Hope County and how ready they were to stand and fight for their homes, their loved ones, their neighbors, and their sense of what was right and wrong, but they would have to respect her wishes on this and let her go this fight alone. Padget knew she could not handle any more loss of life of these innocent people, especially when she could easily avoid such a fate.

 

     Padget turned away from the Whitetails and continued packing her bag and checking her weapons. One by one the Whitetails brought something to help Padget prepare for the fight ahead, bringing her proximity explosives, med kits, throwing knives, and extra ammo. With the supplies came words of advice and support and hugs. Padget took everything with a small smile and a bit of crying. The leader of the Whitetails there at the lodge was the last to come up and he brought with him a new, fresh bullet proof vest and the simple words “Go and give him hell kid.”

 

Soon Padget was ready to go. She hopped into the boat the Whitetails had supplied for her and with a wave was off heading towards Joseph’s Island. It did not take Padget long to reach the dock right next to Joseph’s church. Padget quickly hopped out of the boat and started to scout the compound. Padget traveled around the outside of the compound staying close to the ground and in the cover of the trees. She used her binoculars to look at the different parts of the compound. The rookie deputy never saw a person, which confused her very much. It seemed the compound was abandoned much to her surprise.

 

      Padget creeped farther into the compound and was startled when the doors to the old church burst open behind her. She pulled her SMG-11 from her hip and whirled around to face the church. Standing in front of her was Joseph Seed. Ignoring the gun Padget had pointed at him, the preacher slowly walked towards the rookie deputy looking her up and down. Then Joseph started to recite scripture to Padget.

 

     “And when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the alter the souls of the Martyrs, slain because of the Word of God…” Joseph stopped a few paces back from Padget and locked eyes with the deputy. As usual Padget could not look away from the man’s captivating gaze. However instead of the usual slightly crazed beckoning almost pleading look he normal wore his express was filled with nothing but loathing and wrath.

 

     Suddenly Joseph was moving again, his finger coming up and stabbing the air in Padget’s direction. “You’ve made martyrs of my family…” Joseph got right up in Padget’s face and pushed her shoulder back with his finger, “and I am prepared to do the same to yours.” Joseph then walked past Padget and held his arms out wide, which seemed to be an invisible signal. Suddenly the once seemingly abandoned compound came to life.

 

Out from the man house structures labeled with Latin names came many peggie chosen. Held in the grasps of these chosen were the leaders of the Resistance, the Sheriff, the other deputies, and some of Padget’s closest friends such as Nick and Jess. Seeing her friends alive and it looked like mostly unharmed made Padget gasp in shock and stumble back a few steps.

 

     In no time at all Padget and Joseph were surrounded on all sides by heavily armed chosen and her tied up friends. All the Resistance members were forced down onto their knees and kept there by some of the chosen. Padget eyed all of her friends and colleagues closely. Their eyes all had a slight milky glow to them that was a tale-tell sign of bliss being in their system. However, all of the people Joseph had been holding captive luckily seemed to not have been exposed to enough of the bliss to turn them into mindless angels. Padget turned her attention back to Joseph to see him standing near her with his hand outstretched. Padget raised her eyebrows at the preacher.

 

     “God is watching us, and he will judge us on what we choose in this moment.” Joseph dropped his hand and moved closer to Padget getting close enough that Padget could smell the scent of Joseph’s tooth paste and soap. It took all Padget had not to step back from him.

 

     “I told you that we were living in a world on the brink…” Joseph reached out his hands and grabbed Padget’s upper arms in a punishing, harsh grip and his accent got thicker as he continued. “Where every slight, every injustice, where every choice reveals our sins.”

 

     Joseph shoved Padget back away from himself as his lip curled up as those she was something particularly disgusting he had just stepped in. “And where have your sins led us? Where have those sins led you?”

 

     Joseph looked back at Padget’s friends before locking eyes with her once more and continuing. “Your friends have been taken and tortured. And it’s your fault.”

 

     Padget’s eyes flew back to look at her friends, before her attention was snapped back to Joseph as he continued. “Countless people have been killed, and it’s your fault.

 

     This time Padget did step back from the man as if his words had been blows, curling into herself slightly and trying hard to fight back tears. Padget had not wanted this, she wanted to protect people. The rookie deputy flinched again as Joseph reached out and cradled her head in his hands as he continued on his tirade, his voice getting deceptively soft. “The world is on fire and it’s your fault.”

 

     This time Padget could not keep the tears from running down her face. Joseph stroked her cheek for a moment before asking her, “Was it worth it?”

 

     Padget did not move or say a word, to afraid to say the wrong thing and send this man who was teetering on the edge off the edge into his madness. Even though Padget wanted to tell him no, no it was not worth it. She wanted to confess to Joseph that every time she took some one’s life or came across another dead body she felt a new piece of her soul shatter and nothing would be worth the price of the lives that had been lost, yet nothing left Padget’s mouth. Joseph gripped her face tighter and asked again, “Was it?”

 

     When still Padget did not answer him, he shoved her face out of his hands a took a couple of steps back away from her. Joseph observed Padget for a moment before asking. “When are you going to realize that not every problem can be solved with a bullet?” Padget’s eyes flew to Mary May’s remember when the woman has said the very same thing to Padget all those weeks ago when the rookie deputy had been stealing gas for the Resistance from the cult. Padget wondered if Joseph had heard that conversation all those weeks ago.

 

     Padget darted her eyes back to Joseph. Joseph eyed Padget again for a moment before opening his arms wide and walking past her to stand in front of the church again. “When you first came here. I gave you the choice to walk away.” Joseph turned back to face Padget. “You chose not to…and the time for that choice has long since passed us.”

 

     Joseph came up to Padget and pulled her so that her forehead touched his, “In the face of God I will give you another offer.” Padget held her breath and waited to see what the man would say, he did not keep her in suspense for long. “You put down your guns and you give yourself to me and my flock and your friends will be able to go in peace.”

 

     Joseph released Padget and stepped back a step from her. Once more Joseph held out his hand for Padget’s gun. Padget glanced down at her weapons and then turned to looked at all her friends. She looked at her friends a moment before turning to look back at Joseph, suddenly a voice called out to her from her friends.

 

     “Don’t do it partner!” Nick called out to Padget from behind her. Padget turned around to see Nick struggling against the bonds holding his hands captive behind his back and the peggies keeping him on his knees. One of the peggies standing guard over Nick smacked the man on the temple with the end of his rife. Padget called out in alarm and Nick crumpled to the ground. Padget started to move towards her fallen friend, but two of the chosen stepped in front of the man to keep Padget from him. Padget peered past the chosen blocking her path to Nick and was relieved to see the piolet still breathing.

 

     Padget turned back to Joseph, “Promise me you will leave my friends alone. You can have me but leave them alone and let them go.” Padget pleaded to Joseph as she reached out and placed the SMG-11 in her hand in the man’s once more outstretched hand. Joseph studied Padget closely for a moment, before answering the deputy.

 

        “Once you are secured in my flocks loving embrace then most of your friends will be allowed to go back to their lives.” Joseph told Padget in a very calm matter. Padget wanted to demand to know what he meant by most of them, but she didn’t dare question him especially when the look in his eyes was still particularly wrathful.

 

     With a sigh, Padget started to strip herself of her weapons. She pulled her sniper rifle off her back and threw at Joseph’s feet, next her pack came off and landed at the cult leaders feet, then she unstrapped her knives, side arms, and radio. Finally there was nothing left on her person other than her clothes. Joseph motioned to his followers. Two of the chosen stepped forward and each grabbed one of Padget’s arms restraining the rookie deputy. Then two other peggies grabbed her weapons and supplies and whisked them away. Once Padget was secured in the peggies clutches Joseph handed the gun he had taken from Padget to one of the other chosen and then came up to right in front of the rookie deputy. Joseph ran his hands up both of Padget’s legs and then down both her arms. The man finished the search by running his arms all over Padget’s torso.

 

     Finding no more weapons Joseph took Padget from the peggies that were holding her, held her face in his hands, and pressed his forehead against hers. “You took my family from me my child, but I see that it was so that you could take their place.” Joseph whispered to Padget softly.

 

     Padget frowned at Joseph and tried to figure out what the man was saying. Before she could ask the cult leader what was going on there was a cry from behind Joseph and then the sound of several weapons going off. The next few minutes were chaos and it would not be until later that Padget found out what had happened, but Whitehorse, Hudson, and Pratt had managed to get out of their bounds and take down the peggies that were guarding them. The Sherriff and his deputies had then managed to get their hands on some guns and had started shooting at the peggies holding the rest of the people of Hope County hostage. The peggies holding Mary May and Wheaty were the first to fall. It was pure luck that the peggies did not shoot the Resistance members that were still tied up and at their mercy. Instead the peggies turned their attention and fire power on the enemies that were a current treat and had weapons.

 

     Padget however had been standing with her back to all her friends and had no idea of what was going on behind her. Before the rookie deputy could turn around to see what was going on the peggies that had been holding Padget had worked together to pull her and Joseph out of the line of fire. Padget found her arms bound behind her hands with rope and then she found herself thrown into the church where Joseph was already waiting. Joseph took Padget in his arms as the chosen of the cult that had brought both her and Joseph into the church exited the building locking the doors behind them. Padget wanted to go with the chosen and find out was going. Padget knew that the peggies would not hold back their wrath while facing down her friends. Joseph held fast to the rookie deputy, pulling her down to sit in his lap and shushed her while outside of the church there was a lot of noise, between the gun fire and the yells between both side.

 

     Padget wanted to cry as she and Joseph sat in the dark church listening to the sounds of the fight going on outside. The rookie deputy held back her tears and tried to focus instead on trying to free herself from the binds on her wrist. Padget was distracted from trying to free herself by Joseph turning her face to look at him. Joseph searched Padget’s face for a moment before shaking his head and saying to her, “John had it wrong, your sin is not wrath, it’s pride.”

 

     Padget blinked in surprise at the cult leader before turning her head away and going back to the task of trying to free her hands. After a bit of time Padget finally felt the bounds holding her captive give way. With deep breath Padget tensed her whole body waiting for the perfect moment. That moment came with the sound of a loud explosion which drew Joseph’s attention towards the front of the church. At that moment Padget threw herself off Joseph’s lab, ripped her hands free from the bonds,  and then turned to Joseph and punched him in the face. Right after Padget punched Joseph the outside of the church became deathly quiet. Joseph climbed to his feet and took a step towards the rookie deputy, right at that same time the doors to the church flew open and a shot rang out causing Joseph to collapse to the ground again holding his shoulder as red started to drip down his arm and through his fingers. Padget turned her attention to the front of the church and a relieved sob left her lips when she saw her friends standing in the door to the church armed to the teeth and looking, for the most part, okay. There in the front was Grace with her snipper rifle trained on the cult leader on the floor at Padget’s feet.

 

     Whitehorse came slowly towards the grinning, yet sobbing rookie deputy and the cult leader who was crawling away reciting scripture under his breath. “Joseph Seed you are under arrest.” Whitehorse said as he approached Joseph on the ground and pulled cuffs off his belt.

 

     Joseph got up on his knees facing Padget, he continued to recite scripture as Whitehorse cuffed him. “And I heard a great voice from the temple say to the angels go your ways and pour from the vials the wrath of God upon the earth…”Whitehorse ignored what the man was saying as he pulled Joseph up to his feet with his hands cuffed behind his back.

 

     Joey Hudson came over to Padget and pulled the rookie deputy into a hug. “It’s over Rook. The nightmare is finally over.” Padget wanted to believe what Joey was saying, but she had a foreboding feeling that things were not over quiet yet.

 

     Joey handed Padget back her radio and SMG-11 and then guided the rookie deputy out of the church with her arms still around her. All around the compound there were dead chosen lying around and Padget’s friends were hesitantly standing around looking at each other in wonder. Padget turned back around to watch Whitehorse bring Joseph out of the church. Right as Joseph crossed the threshold of the church sirens started to go off. Padget and everyone else started to look around in confusion. The sirens going off were loud and like no siren that Padget had ever heard before, they reminded her of a World War II movie she had watched long ago. Similar sirens had gone off when Germany had been about to ….bomb London. Padget’s eyes grew large as the realization as to what was going on suddenly hit her. Right about that time a bright flash illuminated the sky and a mushroom cloud went up just across the lake somewhere in the Whitetail mountains.

 

     Joseph walked up and got into Padget’s face. “It is finished my child.” He said with a gleeful look of triumph on his face. Suddenly a hot wind hit all the people gathered in Joseph’s compound almost knocking everyone off their feet. The wind seemed to wake everyone up from their stunned stupor and they all started to rush away.

 

     Whitehorse grabbed Joseph and Hudson grabbed Pratt and Padget pulling them both towards a pick up truck near the entrance of the compound. Joseph was thrown into the back of the trucking as he started singing Amazing Grace again. Hudson and Pratt climbed into the back of the truck crying and screaming in fear. Whitehorse dove into the passage seat as Padget took the driver’s seat. Padget was relieved to see the keys in the truck and she cranked the thing to life then speed out of the compound like the hounds of hell were on their heels. She just started to drive to Dutch’s Island. The only place Padget could think to go as the world came to an end was the bunker she had made her home since this whole mess with the cult was started.

 

     Suddenly Padget’s radio crackled to life, “Jesus Fucking Christ, kid! Are you seeing this shit?” It was Dutch reaching out to the rookie deputy about the mess going on right now. Thankful Padget and Dutch had been preparing for a situation very similar to this. When the news got worse and worse both Padget and Dutch had wanted to be prepared for the worst case scenario. They had made sure the bunker was secure and the generator was in good condition, and they had plenty of water and the water filtration system was in perfect working order.

 

     “Get to the God damn bunker now!” Dutch shouted at Padget over the radio, who rolled her eyes even though Dutch couldn’t see her. She wondered what exactly the old man thought she would be doing other than hauling ass to the bunker. Padget just hoped and prayed that the bunker had enough stuff to keep eight people alive for a few years…if Joseph was right about the bombs then he might have been right about having to be in the bunkers for seven fucking years. Padget and Dutch had stock piled enough food to feed an army for at least two years. Padget and Dutch knew they could survive for a few years if the world did come to an end. Although they had not really planned for six other people they would just have to make it work.

 

     Padget hurtled down roads while Pratt prayed, Hudson screamed, Seed hummed, and Whitehorse barked instructions. Padget payed no attention to the driving laws or the rules of the road and simply floored it. The roads were relatively empty, and the first leg of the drive was rather easy if you discounted the ravings of the other people in the truck. As they rushed towards the bunker another bomb fell and this time it was even closer to them. Pratt and Hudson got louder, and the world was suddenly on fire. Now the drive to Dutch’s bunker had become a lot more perilous. Trees were falling left and right and the abandoned cars on the side of the road started to explode. Padget was having to swerve all over the road to avoid the flaming, falling trees. Then yet another bomb hit. Padget was momentary blinded by the flash of the bomb hitting and almost collided with a flaming deer that was running across the road. That disaster avoided the group continued on towards the bunker with Padget continuing to dodge trees.

 

     Everything was burning, and the landscape was looking drastically different so that when Padget got to the turn she almost missed it, only seeing it last minute and having to take the turn with a violent twist to the wheel. The truck holding Padget and the others bumped along the dirt road towards Dutch’s bunker; after a large bump Pratt leaned forward to say something and Padget turned her attention from the road. Later on in her life when she would think back on that horrible ride towards Dutch’s Bunker she would either get furious at herself or break down into to sobs over the fact that if she had just kept her eyes on the road everything could have ended differently.

 

     “We’re not going to make it…we’re not going to make it…” cried Staci as he grabbed on to Whitehorse’s shoulder. Whitehorse shrugged the younger man off him.

 

     “Sit down!” Whitehorse yelled at Staci as Joey pulled Staci back into the back. Then Joey leaned forward and yelled “Look out, tree!” Padget snapped her attention back to road and tried to swerve the truck away from the tree that was falling, but it was too late and suddenly all she knew was blackness.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Joseph saw the crashing coming and braced himself for the impact. He was stunned for a second but came out of it quickly. The preacher looked around and accessed the scene. Everyone was slumped in different manners and if they were not yet dead they would no doubt be that way soon. Joseph managed to wiggle one hand out of the cuffs that the sheriff had placed on him. Joseph then quickly reached forward and took the key for the cuffs off the dead Sheriff and completely freed himself from the bonds that had so rudely been placed on his wrists. Once he was free from the harsh metal Joseph climbed over the body of the deputy who he thought was named Hudson and out the broken window.

 

     Joseph then started to walk away following the well worn path he could see on the ground which he assumed led to the bunker that the deputy had been driving towards when he heard movement in the car. Glancing back at the wrecked vehicle Joseph saw the rookie deputy moving about. He came closer to see what she was doing but stayed out of sight.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget came to with the horrible smell of ash and sour chemicals in her nose. She lightly shook her head trying to clear her blurry vision and she let out a groan as she felt the pain her body was in from the crash. The crash! Suddenly she remembered what had been happening and she turned to look at the other people in the truck.

 

     A sob escaped Padget’s throat when she saw Whitehorse half way through the window. She tried to call his name but found her throat to dry to do so and then turned to see if the other deputies were any better and could help her check on the older man. When she turned she let out another strangled sob at seeing Hudson and Pratt sprawled out across the back seat.

 

     It did not surprise Padget to see Joseph Seed was gone. She was sure the middle Seed was fine and probably on the way to the safety of the bunker right now. Padget just turned back to face the front of the car and slumped against the door of the car. She found that she did not have the energy to try and get out of the car. Padget came to the conclusion that she was ready to die, and she would do it here with some of the people who meant the most to her.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Joseph saw the deputy look at her friends as then somehow the man felt her give up. The feeling of her just giving up made Joseph furious for some reason. The idea that the deputy would get a relatively painless death that she had excepted surrounded by people she cared about brought out Joseph’s wrath. She would not be allowed to have that, not when she had taken Joseph’s entire family away from him. Not when she had taken all that mattered to him. Joseph would see the rookie deputy suffer. He marched over to the driver side door and wrenched the thing open.

 

     Once the door was open some of Joseph’s wrath abated at seeing the deputy so helpless. Joseph could not explain it, but he still felt some kind of pull towards the deputy and for some reason he still felt as though she was meant to be by his side during the following years underground and in New Eden. Joseph started to whistle as he went about picking the deputy up. He promised himself he would not let his wrath get the better of himself, and while the deputy would atone for her sins, she would also continue to live, and she would not suffer once she had atoned. With those thoughts in mind Joseph finished hoisting the deputy over his shoulders and started down the path he had seen earlier.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget felt her door be opened and heard whistling. She forced her eyes open and saw a hand with a rosary on it. Joseph. She whimpered slightly as the man picked her up. Padget wanted to struggle, but she found that she was still to stunned from the accident and she fell back into the blackness.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Joseph made his way through the burning landscape at to an open bunker door not that far away. Once he and the deputy were inside the bunker he closed the door. Joseph continued down the stairs and into the bunker. At the base of the stairs Joseph came face to face with an older man and the man’s shot gun. Joseph shifted the deputy so that he was now holding her bridal style as he observed the old man in front of him. He shifted the deputy for two reasons, it was more comfortable to hold her in a bridal carry when they were being still and this way the older man would be at risk of hitting the deputy if he shot at Joseph.

 

     The older prepper seemed to take in the scene in front of him before he said anything. “Any one else with you two?” The man asked Joseph in a gruff and straight forward manner. Joseph eyed the older man and shook his head. The other man continued to eye Joseph for a while and Joseph could tell that the older man did not complete believe Joseph, but then the bunker shook with the destruction that was ravaging the world above the bunker and Dutch motioned for Joseph to go further into the bunker.

 

     Joseph headed deep into the bunker and was pleasantly surprised to find a well-stocked, if unorganized and messy, bunker. The first two corridor type rooms that he went through were filled with supplies of all kinds. Then he came to another corridor style room, but this one also had rooms branching off from it.

 

     The prepper told Joseph to turn to the left when he got to the end of the hallway, so that it the way Joseph headed, but he glanced in the other rooms as he passed. The first room on the right looked like a lounge and kitchen area and even though it took looked junky, it also looked cozy. The next room on the right Joseph was unsure about but saw what looked like maps of Hope County on the walls and pictures of Joseph’s family, which made Joseph wonder just who this old man was and what he had been doing down here this whole time. The room at the end of the hall had a door and the door was closed tight which made Joseph very curious as to what lay beyond the door, but he knew that now was not the time to go investigating. That was it for this set of rooms. When Joseph turned to the left he found yet another hall type room that was also stocked with stuff, but again this room had doors leading to other rooms. The old man told Joseph to go to the last door on the left, so Joseph started to move while taking in the other rooms in the bunker. He could tell that the room at the end of the corridor type room was a fairly nice looking restroom. The first door to the right was also closed tight like the room at the end of the other hallway style room.

 

     Then Joseph looked into the first room on the left and he stopped dead in his tracks. There was his baby brother John standing by a bunk bed. How could this be? His little brother was dead. Joseph took a step towards the apparition that was his brother in shock. Joseph was certain that his mind had now fled him, but then he heard John calling his name, along with another painfully familiar voice…Joseph stepped farther into the room and was shocked to find Jacob standing by the other bed in the room. Joseph was unable to move or to speak and simple stood in place, looked from brother to brother in disbelief, and clutched the rookie deputy close to his chest. It took Joseph several minutes to come out of his shocked stupor and it was the yelling of his brothers that brought him out of it.

 

     “Come on you grumpy old man! Let us out! Can you not see my brother is destressed?” John was yelling at the old prepper who seemed to own the bunker they now found themselves in and would have to stay in for the next several years.

 

     “If you think I am going to let you crazies out of your handcuffs just because your brother is still shocked that your alive think again ol Johnny.” The old man spit back at John which caused the youngest Seed to cry out in wrath and fight against the cuff holding him hostage to the bed and Joseph knew with out a shadow of a doubt at that moment his brother was still alive, both of his brothers were still alive and would be with him as they waited out the collapse. Joseph glanced down at the young deputy resting in his arms and sent his Thanks to God for giving him the desire to go back and save her from the fires of the collapse after the crash. She had kept his brothers alive and tended to them and now they would all spend the collapse together as a family. The voice had spoken truth when it told him she was meant to be by his family’s side in the New Eden. Joseph then glanced at the old man as he argued with Jacob. The only road block left that stood in the way of the perfect future was this old man. Joseph was not certain who this man was to the rookie deputy, but Joseph could tell the man would do nothing more that continue to poison the deputies mind again himself and his loving brothers. The man would have to go.

 

     Joseph turned his attention back to his fuming little brother and spoke to the younger man, “John stop fighting the cuff you will only hurt yourself.” At Joseph’s words John instantly stopped and then locked eyes with Joseph with tears in his own eyes. Joseph smiled sweetly at John, before continuing. “Not to worry brother, let me go get the deputy situated and then I am sure I will be brought back in here to visit with you and Jacob.”

 

     Joseph then turned from his brothers and walked back into the hall/storage room and then went into the room the old prepper had originally told him to take the deputy to. The old man grunted and then followed Joseph into the bed room. Joseph took in the small yet comfortable looking bed room as he crossed the room to lay the deputy on the bed. As Joseph laid the deputy on the bed he tracked the old man’s moves. As the old man moved closer to make sure that Joseph was not hurting the deputy that is when Joseph struck. Joseph shot his left hand out to shove the gun aside and punched his right hand up into the old mans lower jaw. The force from the punch stunned the old man enough for Joseph to take the gun away from him and hit the old prepper in the face with the gun. Joseph hit the other man first on his right side knocking him out and giving him a cut on his cheek then Joseph hit him again on the very top of his head as hard as he could, which is when Joseph heard a tell-tale crunch come from the older man’s body. The unnecessary factor had been taken out. Now nothing was standing between Joseph and his brothers and the deputy.

 

     Joseph smiled in satisfaction as he checked the old man’s pockets and found several keys. Leaving the deputy where she was for now Joseph went into the room holding his brothers. Once he got back in the room Joseph stood in the doorway for a while just drinking in the sight of his brothers alive and in what looked to be good health. After a while of just enjoying his brothers presence, Joseph went up to John first and started trying different keys into the handcuffs until he found the right one. Once John was free Joseph pressed his forehead to John’s.

 

     “I am so glad you are alive, and we will be spending the collapse together,” Joseph told John softly. John smiled a big beaming smile at Joseph before launching a bunch of questions at his brother.

 

     “What is happing outside Joseph? Where is the deputy? Are you okay? Is the deputy okay? How did you convince the old prepper to let us go?” John clung to Joseph as he fired off his questions. Joseph simply chuckled softly at his brother and then tried to answer his brother’s questions in the order they had been asked.

 

     “The day I for saw has come brother, the earth is being cleansed by God’s holy fire.” Joseph continued to answer John’s questions as he pulled away to go free Jacob as well. Joseph was grateful to see that the same key that had opened John’s cuffs opened Jacob’s. “The deputy is laying in one of the other bed rooms here in the bunker for now.” Joseph pulled Jacob in so that they could touch foreheads. “I feel fine and I believe the deputy is fine as well, but I will know for certain once she wakes up.” Joseph then pulled away from Jacob and started for the door of the room. “As for the old man who once owned this bunker…he will be of no more bother to any of us.”

 

     Joseph heard his brothers following him as he headed for the room he had left the deputy in. Joseph went straight to the deputy’s side and looked at the woman for a long time as he tried to figure out what to do with her to start. Joseph was no fool, he knew the deputy would not welcome him and his brothers into her heart at first, but they would have seven years in the bunker to teach the deputy that the Seed brother were indeed the right choice for her. Joseph was pulled out of his thoughts by a grunt from Jacob. Joseph turned to his older brother and was surprised to see him checking the old prepper over. Joseph crossed a few steps towards where his brother was crouched over the old man bringing Jacob’s attention from the dead man on the floor to Joseph.

 

     “The pup s’ not going to be happy bout this,” grunted Jacob. Joseph raised an eyebrow at his older brother silently asking him to explain. “They were close,” was all Jacob had to say on the matter. Joseph hummed in consideration, before deciding that there was no use worrying over the issue. The old man was going to be someone who pushed the deputy to go against the word of God and thus needed to go. Joseph turned his attention back to the deputy on the bed before deciding for now that the best thing to do would be to move the deputy onto the ground at the foot of the bed and hand cuff her to the bed.

 

     Joseph turned to John and asked his younger brother, “Will you please go get one set of the hand cuffs that I left in the room you were staying in?” John nodded at Joseph before setting off to do just that. Joseph then picked up the deputy and gently set her down on the floor with her propped up against the base of the bed. Jacob stepped back and leaned against the wall by the door to watch over everything. John hurried back in the door with the handcuffs in his hands. As soon as he got to Joseph’s side Joseph took the handcuffs and smiled at his little brother.

 

     “Thank you John,” Joseph told his little brother quietly as he handcuffed the deputy to the bed. Once the deputy was secured Joseph stood up and went over to the old radio resting against the wall and John stood back a little from the deputy but stayed between her and the dead body lying on the floor. Joseph knew he needed to do something with the dead body but was more curious if anyone was reporting anything about the bombs that had hit America that day. As soon as Joseph turned on the radio the deputy started to come back into the world of the living.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget came back into the land of the living slowly with several groans. The first thing that came back to her was her hearing. There was a female voice calling out, “Attention. Attention. This is the Emergency Broadcast System.” Suddenly Padget tried to straighten her aching body and open her eyes as everything that had happened before she passed out came rushing back to her.

 

     When Padget finally got her eyes open her vision was blurry and it took Padget a few minutes to figure out where she was. Her vision cleared enough for her to realize she was attached to the foot of the bed where she had first woken up when she had first been saved by Dutch all those months ago. Padget’s first thought was that maybe the old man was messing with her, although why he would do that she had no idea. Going with basic human nature Padget pulled against the handcuffs trying to get free. When her efforts made no difference Padget turned her attention to looking around the room. What Padget saw made her breath catch in her throat and again for what felt like the hundredth time since the rookie deputy had come to Hope County she felt the icy hands of fear grip her spine in its iron grasp.

 

     There in front of the radio that was broadcasting the emergency broadcast was Joseph Seed…Padget was at the mercy of Joseph Seed. The very same man who had simply gouged out someone’s eyes for filming one of his sermons and being a doubter of his word. What would he do to the heretic that had dismantled the majority of his cult? Before Padget could think much more on that someone else couched down right beside her and the rookie deputy jerked to look at the other person…who turned out to be none other than a free John Seed. Padget let out a strangled cry at seeing the youngest Seed brother so close to her and Padget swore she felt the tattoo on her chest throbbing at the mans close presence. If Padget had been paying full attention she would have noticed the slightly manic and obsessed but concerned look on the youngest Seeds face. Before Padget could notice any of these things or do more than lean back slightly from the man, her attention was drawn towards the door of the bedroom. Padget was not really surprised to see the eldest Seed brother standing there the ever present protector of his family, but the sight did ramp up her panic even more. How were the two Seeds who had been living down in this bunker with Dutch free? Where was Dutch?

 

     Before Padget could think to voice any of her questions she was distracted by Joseph talking to her. “You know what this means?” Padget snapped her eyes back to Joseph as she tried very hard not to cringe into the bedframe.

 

     Padget watched as Joseph slowly turned to face her. “It means the politicians have been silenced.” Padget flinched at his words and could not bring herself to look into the man’s eyes, focusing instead on his bare chest. “It means the corporations have been erased,” Joseph continued on and if he noticed her lack of eye contact he made no mention of it. He came a little closer to her and out of the corner of her eye she saw John stand up and move back just a bit from her.

 

     Joseph continued raising his hands up towards the ceiling of the bunker and looking towards the heavens, Padget often felt like the man was putting on a show when he preached, but now she felt like maybe that was just who Joseph was as there was no one to put on a show for here. “It means the world has been cleansed by God’s righteous fire…” Joseph then slowly lowered his arms and again focused all his attention on Padget who this time did cringe away from him a bit.

 

     “But most of all..” Joseph said as he came even closer and then crouched down so they were eye level, “It means I was right…” He whispered to Padget and she felt his hot breath, so similar to that of the hot air that had surrounded them as they had rushed to the bunker, flow across her face. Padget closed her eyes and held back her tears. It was true. Joseph had been right all along. Padget had no idea what to make of her decision to fight the cult or how to process all of the lives that had been lost with the knowledge that Joseph had indeed been right. She new deep in her heart that the methods the cult had been using were horrible and needed to be stopped. However, the fact that the cult had just been trying to save people from the horrible fate of dying as the bombs hit the earth and she had most likely condemned so many people to that fate ate away at the rookie deputy. Joseph words earlier at the church also came back to her and Padget wanted nothing more than to no longer exist.

 

     Padget was pulled from her thoughts as Joseph spoke again. “The collapse had come.” He told her as he pulled away from her and settled in the chair that Dutch had once sat in to talk to her about the cult all those months ago. “The world as we know it is over.” Padget watched out of the corner of her eyes as John and Jacob shifted at these words. Padget herself felt some of Joseph wrath lying just under the surface as he spoke those words.

 

     The preacher just stared at her for a moment before closing his eyes and continuing. “I waited so long…” Padget wanted to say something but found that the words were stuck in her throat. “I waited so long for the prophecy God whispered in my ear to be fulfilled…”

 

     Joseph’s eyes opened again and with a narrowed gaze focused on Padget for a moment. Joseph reached out his hands towards Padget as he continued “I prepared my family for this moment…” Padget had to tense every muscle in her body to keep from throwing herself backwards and away from the cult leader.

 

     “I thought you had taken them from me…” Joseph continued and then Padget saw some of the wrath that had been peeking through earlier bleed through as Joseph leaned forward into Padget’s space with his teeth bared “I had thought to either kill you for what you had done or at least make you wish for death even if I was unwilling to provide it to you.”

 

     Joseph reached out and stroked some of Padget’s hair away from her face, ignoring the finch she gave when did so before continuing in a much softer fashion. “But instead I find you have saved my dear brothers and you are meant to be my family as well now that the collapse has come.” Padget’s eyes flew back and forth between Joseph’s eyes trying to figure out what the man meant by that. All Padget found was a crazy, possessive light that Padget had a feeling did not bode well for her.

 

     Joseph pressed his forehead against Padget’s and she froze in fear as the man continued. “When this world is ready to be borne anew we will step into the light.” Joseph pulled back and pressed a kiss on to Padget’s forehead before finishing his speech. “I am your Father and you are my child and together we will march through Eden’s Gate. All four of us.”

 

     Joseph seemed to get distracted by something over Padget’s right shoulder and Padget forgot how to breath. A tremor shook the bunker and Joseph closed his eyes and seemed to revel in the destruction outside before leaning back in the chair again his eyes locked on Padget. Padget had not realized that she was not breathing until she heard John shout something, although she had no idea what he said, and she fell back into the welcoming embrace of darkness.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     John watched Joseph inform the rookie deputy of what had happened and lay out the Seed family’s (and the deputy’s) future. Each time she cringed away from Joseph John wanted nothing more than to embrace the girl and tell her that everything would be okay. They were her family now and no one would harm her, but he knew his brother needed to handle this on his own and there would be time for John to comfort the girl later.

 

     John got so wrapped up in visions of the future with the deputy that it took him a moment to notice her chest was not moving. When he finally noticed it he shouted out to his brothers, “She’s not breathing!” John hurried to her side, catching her upper half against his torso as he slammed down onto his knees beside her on the cold hard concrete floor. John was panicking and had no idea what he needed to do for the deputy.

 

     Both of his brothers had flown to the deputies side at John’s shout and Jacob was quick to take control of the situation. Jacob pressed his ear to the deputies chest sat back with a relived sigh, “Pup’s breathing again, think it was just the shock.” Jacob then pushed himself to standing and wondered out of the bedroom, headed to do who knows what in the bunker.

 

     John let out his own relived sigh and buried his nose in the deputy’s hair breathing in her own unique scent. John was sad to find her smell was tainted by the scent of smoke and some sour smelling chemical. Glancing over the deputy and his brother John realized that both Joseph and the deputy were still tainted with remnants of the collapse. John also glanced at the handcuffs keeping the deputy locked to the bed.

 

     Joseph saw where John was looking and reached out a hand to lay it on his brothers shoulder. “The handcuffs are for her good as well as ours brother.” Joseph explained to John.

 

     John looked up at his brother with a question in his eyes and Joseph explained further. “She has been fed lies after lies about us by those sinners she once called friends.” Joseph glanced down at the deputy leaning against his brother’s chest looking for all the world like a delicate lamb. It was hard for all the brothers to put this delicate creature in the role of the deputy who had torn through the project with the wrath of a thousand sinners.

 

     “While I feel that the collapse has opened her eyes to the lies of the sinners,” Joseph continued softly as he ran his hands through the deputy’s hair. “I fear that she may bear to much guilt from her actions during the repeating and try to end her own life.” Understanding lit up John’s eyes and the youngest brother nodded his head to show Joseph he understood while tightening his arms around the rookie deputy.

 

     John then looked down at the deputy again and stroked her soft skin. Joseph could tell his brother wanted to say something and he reached out again to touch his younger brothers shoulder. “What is it John?” Joseph waited and when John neither looked up or said anything Joseph moved closer to his brother. “I promise this is a safe space brother.”

 

     Finally John looked up and locked eyes with Joseph. “Do we have to keep her here brother?” John inquired quietly. “Can she not be placed on the bed?” Joseph studied John’s face for a moment and then smiled at his younger brother.

 

     “It is good to see that you have let love into your heart John.” Joseph said softly as he pressed his forehead to John’s. “We can indeed place her on the bed, but first I wish to get her cleaned up and the sheets on the bed changed as they are tainted from when she laid on them covered in the debris death of the earth.” Joseph pushed himself to standing and wandered over to the closet area of the small bed room.

 

     John watched his brother go before looking at the corpse of the old prepper again. John was indifferent to the man’s death, but he knew that it would tear up the deputy. John definitely agreed that they would need to keep her safe from herself. Someone would need to be with her twenty-four/seven, at least until she had been allowed time to mourn and she was receptive to the love the brothers held for her.

 

     Jacob wandered back into the bedroom and leaned against the doorway watching the whole scene in the bedroom. Joseph spotted his elder brother and motioned for Jacob to come join him at the closet area. “Please change the sheets on the bed in here, as they are dirty from when the deputy laid on them when we first got in and you are clean.” Joseph asked of Jacob before turning back to look at John and the deputy.

 

     “John is going to help me clean up and tend to the deputy.” Joseph said as he pulled the key to the cuffs out his pocket and went over to the bed to unlock the deputy. Once the deputy was free from the bed John scooped her up in his arms in a bridal carry and held her close to his chest. Joseph smiled at the scene then turned back to Jacob.

 

     Jacob was watching his two younger brothers with a strange look in his eye that John could not decipher. Joseph however knew what was bothering Jacob and said, “You are free to join us once the sheets have been changed.”

 

     Jacob grunted in acknowledgement and then moved to change the sheets on the bed as John and Joseph headed towards the bathroom. The bathroom was right next to the bedroom and it was a spacious room as compared to some of the bathrooms in bunkers of other citizens of Hope County.

 

     John entered the bathroom first with Joseph right behind him. The brothers left the door to the bathroom open and Joseph started to disrobe. Once Joseph was undressed he held out his arms for the deputy. John passed the deputy over to his brother and then started to strip himself. While John was getting disrobed Joseph gently rocked Padget back and forth and softly started singing amazing grace.

 

     Once John was also naked the brothers started to pull the deputies clothes off. John’s lips curled back as he started to pull off her filthy tank top that had the words Rye and Daughter Aviation on it. John huffed in irritation but tried to pull back his wrath that he always felt when thinking about Nick Rye. After taking off her tank top her sports bra came next. Both Joseph and John sighed in appreciation at the sight of the deputy’s chest. John did his best to hold back his lust, but he did indulge himself by running his hands all over Padget’s torso and chest checking for injuries. He torso was mostly fine although several bruises were forming nothing seemed broken and there were no bleeding wounds.

 

     Reluctantly John pulled away from her chest and moved down to her boots. Her boots and socks came off quickly and were added to pile of clothes to be thrown away. Then John moved up to her pants. She had one holster on her leg which was holding her SMG-11. John expertly removed the holster and gun setting them in the medicine cabinet where they would be out of sight if the deputy woke up and tried to fight her way past the brothers while here in the bathroom. The only other thing was the radio sitting on her hip. John pulled the radio off and set it on the counter.

 

     Finally the deputy was about to be completely bare. John carefully unzipped her jeans and then started to tug them and her underwear down her hips. In no time at all the last barriers of fabric keeping the Seeds from being pressed skin to skin with the deputy was gone and the Seeds were able to look at every part of their deputy. John wanted nothing more than to pull open the deputies legs and feast his eyes on the treasure that lay between her legs and was sheltered from his gaze by a thick patch of black hair. John restrained himself though and simply leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the top of the deputy’s pelvic bone before stepping back and giving Joseph room to move into the shower.

 

     Joseph turned on the water and then entered the shower with the deputy still in his arms and John right behind him. The water in the shower was still cold as Joseph did not want to waste any water. The shock of the cold water caused the deputy to jerk awake in Joseph’s arms. Joseph shushed the deputy and held her close as the water rinsed the debris from the both Joseph and the deputy.

 

     John smiled at the deputy as she blinked up at him and his brother in an innocent, confused manner. “It’s okay deputy. Your safe with us.” John said softly as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

     Padget was shocked when she felt ice cold water hitting her bare skin and jerked awake with a quiet gasp. At first Padget was not sure where she was or what was happening, but all to quickly she realized that she was in the shower and she was not alone. Padget glanced at the man holding her and was surprised to find Joseph Seed smiling down at her. Not wanting to ignite the cult leaders ire while he was holding her, and he had her in water, Padget simply glanced around. Padget was shocked to see John, a naked John standing close by in the shower too.

 

     Padget had no idea how to respond to the fact that she was naked in the shower with both John and Joseph Seed. The rookie deputy simply blinked up at John. When he pressed a kiss to her head Padget was even more confused and shocked. It was then that Padget realized that she was naked, and she was pressed against a most likely naked Joseph. Padget wanted to thrash against the cult leaders hold, but she was to afraid of what his reaction would be. Padget decided to wait and see what the men would do before she reacted. She did realize that she was out numbered, and she was still weak from the crash so there would be no way she would be able to fight her way through both Joseph and John.

 

     Suddenly there was movement behind John. Padget looked passed the youngest brother and was not surprised to see Jacob standing there. Padget watched as Jacob’s eyes raked down her body before coming back to settle on her face. Padget was not so naïve as to not see the lust in Jacob’s eyes and Padget tensed up even more in Joseph’s arms. However, when Jacob made no move to come into the shower or to get undressed Padget relaxed a bit.

 

     Padget’s attention was pulled from Jacob as she was jostled in Joseph’s arms and handed to John. Padget tensed up again at the shift and quickly moved her hands to try and cover her modesty. One hand went down to cover her mound and the other arm she laid across her chest. John shushed her quietly and bounced her gently in his arms.

 

     Padget then felt hands in her hair taking her hair out of her ponytail. Padget glanced out of the corner of her eyes towards Joseph who was smiling down at her. “No need to be embarrassed or to hide your beautiful body my child.” Joseph told her softly as he started to wet her hair. Padget did not respond but stayed trying to cover herself.

 

     Joseph hummed and then continued washing Padget’s hair. Padget was thankful that the shower went relatively quickly. Once Joseph had washed Padget’s hair he stepped away from her and John and was quick to wash his own hair and his own body. Once Joseph was clean John set Padget down on her feet and grabbed a hold of both the deputy’s arms. Padget’s eyes got large and she was worried about what was going to happen but being on her feet just highlighted the pain she was in from the car crash earlier. Padget found she could not put any wait on her right foot. Padget turned her attention back to Joseph who was standing in from of her with a new wash cloth that had soap on it. He was very quick and almost detached as he washed all of Padget’s body.

 

      Once Padget had been washed and rinsed off she found herself being picked up in Joseph’s arms and removed from the shower. Jacob was waiting right outside the shower with Padget’s favorite robe in his hands. Padget was quickly bundled up in the robe and then taken in Jacob’s arms and carried out of bathroom. Jacob started to head into Dutch’s bedroom, but stopped at the threshold and then turned around and went into the medical room. Padget found herself laid down on the first bed in the med room and her right hand attached to the bed with a handcuff. Jacob then retreated a little bit away from Padget and leaned against the counter. Padget just stared down at her lap and picked at her nails while she watched Jacob out of the corner of her eyes.

 

     Soon John was coming in dressed in one of Dutch’s t-shirts which just hung on the slighter man. John came over and sat beside Padget on the bed and pulled her into his side. Padget tensed up but did not fight John. John smiled at Padget and then started to play with her hair. Jacob left the room then and Padget pulled her courage up to ask John about Dutch.

 

     “John?” Padget started softly. John hummed in response and Padget took a deep breath before continuing. “Where is Dutch?” John was silent and continued to play with Padget’s hair. “John?” Padget asked again in a pleading voice.

 

     John still did not say anything and Padget was starting to get worried. Padget started to squirm in John’s hold. “Where is he John?” She asked in a panicked voice. Suddenly there was movement in hall and Padget watched as Jacob carried Dutch out of his bedroom and down the hall. Padget had been around enough dead bodies to know when she was seeing another one, even from a distance. Padget let out a strangled sob and then started to thrash against John and the handcuff holding her to the bed.

 

     Padget was unaware of anything else around her, all she could think about was the sight of Dutch dead body in Jacob’s arms and the fact that the man who was like a father to her was now dead and it was all her fault. Eventually Padget’s tired, hurting body was no longer able to struggle and she collapsed back into the cot and John’s chest sobbing quietly until even the ability for her to be able to sob out her pain was gone, and no more tears were left to shed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay another chapter! This is not the last chapter so don't worry. I plan to write things about the seven years they will be in the bunker and their lived in New Eden. Don't be expecting Padget to be a judge though cause that is not happening to her and Ubi made me mad about that any way. I know that this chapter took a while for me to get it out and that there is still no smut, but I promise the smut is coming and I hope the fact that the chapter is 11,330 words long makes the wait well worth it! Please leave a comment as they fuel my muse and I love every single comment I get on this story. Thank you so much for reading and see you all with the next chapter!


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